Quote:
Originally Posted by GemmaD
My mum has been incubating spur thigh eggs and my sister is looking after them while she is on holiday. She didn't expect them to hatch but one is just hatching now!! We can't get hold of mum because she is in a different timezone but we don't know what to do with a new hatchling. Do we take it straight out the incubator or leave it for a few days? How soon will it need food and water? It doesn't seem to be moving much but has only broken some of the egg so far, should we be worried about that? Thank you for your help, we don't know what to do!
Gemma
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I would wait until the hatchling is out of the egg before doing any thing then as below. You can leave over night, if just hatched.
I would take it out of the incubator, and soak the hatchling in shallow water as breaking out of the egg is thirsty work:0) then just put it somewhere in the warm (not too hot) as it's quite warm any way. It will not hurt to put the hatchling in a box or something suitable with an ordinary light. As it will probably bury down in the substrate in the box. It can take up to a week before they will it. But I always put in a small amount of weeds in just in case. As some hatchlings will eat straight away. The most important thing is to keep the hatchling hydrated, as dehydration is the biggest killer in young tortoises.
So I would bathe the hatchling at least twice a day.