General Care Discussion :: Incubation period!

[amyandandrew]

Hi, I'm new here. Looking for a little help. O RES has laid 2 clutches of eggs. The first was on May 18 & the second time she laid eggs was June 9. My fiance & I have been doing research to see when the little ones will hatch, but have been getting 2 different time periods, anywhere from 55 days to 85 days. So, my question is, when should we start looking for the little miracles? This is the first time we've had her lay eggs as she was a rescue and "got pregnant" by our male turtle that we've had for about 6 years. So we're completely new at this! Thanks so much for the help!!

Also, we are incubating these on our own as we have our turtles in a pond outside & have birds & stuff that'll gladly dig & steal eggs, so anyway, do we cover the eggs up, once we incubate them, or do the tops stay exposed?

Amy & Andrew

[SINI5T3R]

what are you using to incubate them? did you buy a incubator or did you make one? are you using vermiculite as a substrate? Incubation has to be pretty precise or the eggs wont hatch. Humidity and temp have to be just around perfect for the whole time aswell. As a Snake Breeder eggs can be a giant pain in the butt!

also, are you sure the eggs are even fertilized? Females will lay eggs even when not around a male.

[steve]

How big/old is your girl? Were these her first clutches?

[amyandandrew]

We pretty much followed the advice of this website http://turtle_tails.tripod.com/raisingb ... /tour8.htm and are using similiar tubs/containers. The first clutch she laid in a sand pit that is in a flower pot in the middle of their pond, so we used the sand that she laid them in. The 2nd batch, she laid in the dirt by our porch, so we have the dirt/soil that was in the hole that she buried them in. She laid more again tonight when she wanted out while cleaning their pond, in the dirt/soil again. We have the eggs incubating in our back porch, because the humidity/temp in the room during the day gets the same as the outside temp, as we do not a/c the room.

As for the eggs being fertilized. We aren't sure that they are, but hey, it's worth a shot, right? Journey shares a pond with 2 other males, 1 is an adolescent, and the one she's been mating with is about 8-9 yrs old. She is a rescue, and we were not given much history on her such as any other eggs that were previously laid. All the previous owner could tell us is she was around 5-6 yrs old. We've never had a female turtle before, Journey is our first !!

[Diamondbacks4Life]

Usually around 60day mark you will see most eggs hatch

[amyandandrew]

Thanks!