Nice Surprise

steeley · 10-03-2012, 05:25 PM

I went to feed and clean the torts in their outside enclosure,after the initial wacky races charge and they were chomping away I noticed a new addition had arrived, a baby Horsefield.
We knew one of the females had been carrying 4 eggs from a previous visit.She had laid them in the enclosure somewhere,obviously in the area set aside for her to lay in as we found no eggs anywhere else when I gave them a spring clean and substrate change a couple of weeks ago.
The tortoise weighs in at 14g and is perfect in every way,the egg sack is almost healed up so it has possible a week old or more.
Can anyone post the normal birth weight and how long before the egg sack goes.
So this is a natural born tortoise as possibly can be in the Uk.
Will update if any more appear in the coming weeks.

SarahC · 10-03-2012, 05:31 PM

Wow brilliant news well done

alley cat · 10-03-2012, 06:10 PM

Wow that is great! why dont I get nice surprises like that

Crwban · 10-03-2012, 06:17 PM

Amazing.
What a fantastic surprise.

You do know that such cuteness requires photos!!!!

Crwban

gwenq · 10-03-2012, 06:44 PM

That's great news!! And yes, lots of pictures!!!

emma_mcraf · 10-03-2012, 08:01 PM

How lovely.

Watermelon · 10-03-2012, 08:04 PM

What a lovely surprise.... photos please!

Shelled Lady · 11-03-2012, 12:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steeley

I went to feed and clean the torts in their outside enclosure,after the initial wacky races charge and they were chomping away I noticed a new addition had arrived, a baby Horsefield.
We knew one of the females had been carrying 4 eggs from a previous visit.She had laid them in the enclosure somewhere,obviously in the area set aside for her to lay in as we found no eggs anywhere else when I gave them a spring clean and substrate change a couple of weeks ago.
The tortoise weighs in at 14g and is perfect in every way,the egg sack is almost healed up so it has possible a week old or more.
Can anyone post the normal birth weight and how long before the egg sack goes.
So this is a natural born tortoise as possibly can be in the Uk.
Will update if any more appear in the coming weeks.

Goodness what an acheivement. How deep was it buried? Do you know what month it was laid? Is that a first, surviving the winter frosts to hatch in March? What do you reckon the lowest temperatures were?

steeley · 11-03-2012, 09:24 AM

They were hatched out in an fully heated outdoor enclosure,I made a nesting site with a normal 60w spot lamp bulb above the nest site.As for the depth I don't know,we knew she had laid them but didn't know where.The light was kept on for 12 hours a day,the minimum temperature recorded in the enclosure was 13c,where as outside the lowest was about -8c, I had to dig out the enclosure a couple of times due to the snow.
We think she laid them a couple of weeks before Xmas.
I am busy for the next few days then I will try and put some pics on here.
There is some pics of the enclosure in an album in my profile.

Catwoman63 · 11-03-2012, 09:38 AM

Awww cant wait to see piccs of that little baby, id be over the moon if i found a suprise like that xxx

10-03-2012, 05:25 PM	#1
steeley Junior Member Egg Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: stoke Posts: 36	Nice Surprise I went to feed and clean the torts in their outside enclosure,after the initial wacky races charge and they were chomping away I noticed a new addition had arrived, a baby Horsefield. We knew one of the females had been carrying 4 eggs from a previous visit.She had laid them in the enclosure somewhere,obviously in the area set aside for her to lay in as we found no eggs anywhere else when I gave them a spring clean and substrate change a couple of weeks ago. The tortoise weighs in at 14g and is perfect in every way,the egg sack is almost healed up so it has possible a week old or more. Can anyone post the normal birth weight and how long before the egg sack goes. So this is a natural born tortoise as possibly can be in the Uk. Will update if any more appear in the coming weeks.

10-03-2012, 05:31 PM	#2
SarahC Member Hatched Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Southampton Posts: 255	Wow brilliant news well done __________________ Sarah 3:4:2 Herman

10-03-2012, 06:17 PM	#4
Crwban Member Hatchling Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Anglesey Posts: 608	Amazing. What a fantastic surprise. You do know that such cuteness requires photos!!!! Crwban __________________ Sadly, no longer a tortoise owner, but still looking at the pictures.

10-03-2012, 08:01 PM	#6
emma_mcraf Senior Member Adult Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Devon Posts: 11,365	How lovely. __________________ Emma Testudo Hermanni 5.12.2:Theo, Tamara, Tabitha, Harriet, Isabelle, Clara, Oscar, Hugo, Oliver, Florence, Arabella, Esmé, Aurelia, Felicia, Claudia, Atticus, Celestia, Amaris, Tristan and Clementine Budgies: Jasper, Ivo, Otis, Henry, Louie and Luca Doggies: 1.1.0 Chester and Lottie

11-03-2012, 09:24 AM	#9
steeley Junior Member Egg Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: stoke Posts: 36	They were hatched out in an fully heated outdoor enclosure,I made a nesting site with a normal 60w spot lamp bulb above the nest site.As for the depth I don't know,we knew she had laid them but didn't know where.The light was kept on for 12 hours a day,the minimum temperature recorded in the enclosure was 13c,where as outside the lowest was about -8c, I had to dig out the enclosure a couple of times due to the snow. We think she laid them a couple of weeks before Xmas. I am busy for the next few days then I will try and put some pics on here. There is some pics of the enclosure in an album in my profile. Last edited by steeley; 11-03-2012 at 09:29 AM.

10-03-2012, 06:10 PM	#3
alley cat Senior Member Adult Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Somerset Posts: 3,150	Wow that is great! why dont I get nice surprises like that

10-03-2012, 06:44 PM	#5
gwenq Member Hatchling Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Scotland Posts: 507	That's great news!! And yes, lots of pictures!!!

10-03-2012, 08:04 PM	#7
Watermelon Senior Member Adult Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 2,085	What a lovely surprise.... photos please!

11-03-2012, 09:38 AM	#10
Catwoman63 Senior Member Adult Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: South East England Posts: 6,739	Awww cant wait to see piccs of that little baby, id be over the moon if i found a suprise like that xxx __________________ BEV XXX 0.3.0 - T Horsfieldii (Xena, Zelda & Lilly) 2.2.0 - TG Terrestris (Zeus, Astreus / Zagreus & Alexia) 1.2.0 - Zebra Finches (Gunner / Bonnie & May) 0.1.0 - SBT (Hazel) 1.0.0 - FBD (Ted)

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