Newly Hatched Horsfield Tortoise
Posted: 30 May 2017, 15:12
[attachment=2]Red Spot 1_290517_IMG_4665 copy.JPG[/attachment]
[attachment=1]Blue Spot 1_300517_IMG_4673.JPG[/attachment]
[attachment=0]Blue Spot 1_300517_IMG_4674.JPG[/attachment]
I thought some of you might be interested to see this.
The picture of the tortoise starting to emerge from the shell was taken yesterday. This is to demonstrate that the tortoise emerges from the widest part of the oval shaped egg.
The other two pictures are of the tortoise taken just five minutes after hatching. The tortoise is still moist and the vermiculite that the eggshell has been resting on is still stuck to the hatchling. It will come off as soon as the tortoise has a nice soak in the bath later on today. Note the mishapen carapace. The shell is soft at this stage and the tortoise will soon stretch to give the correct shape, which is either round or slightly oval. Also note the demarkation across the width of the plastron. This shows how the growing fetus fit inside the oval shaped egg and as it literally double itself in half head to tail. This little tortoise weighs just 19 gr.
[attachment=1]Blue Spot 1_300517_IMG_4673.JPG[/attachment]
[attachment=0]Blue Spot 1_300517_IMG_4674.JPG[/attachment]
I thought some of you might be interested to see this.
The picture of the tortoise starting to emerge from the shell was taken yesterday. This is to demonstrate that the tortoise emerges from the widest part of the oval shaped egg.
The other two pictures are of the tortoise taken just five minutes after hatching. The tortoise is still moist and the vermiculite that the eggshell has been resting on is still stuck to the hatchling. It will come off as soon as the tortoise has a nice soak in the bath later on today. Note the mishapen carapace. The shell is soft at this stage and the tortoise will soon stretch to give the correct shape, which is either round or slightly oval. Also note the demarkation across the width of the plastron. This shows how the growing fetus fit inside the oval shaped egg and as it literally double itself in half head to tail. This little tortoise weighs just 19 gr.