by Herphead » Wed May 11, 2011 9:24 am
Hi Marion,
If you got 12 eggs from the female, the chances are almost 100% that they are leopard tortoises, as our other 12 species of tortoise are smaller and produce correspondingly smaller numbers of eggs per clutch, typically 2 to 5. The size of the tortoises also corresponds. Leopard tortoise eggs are almost perfectly spherical, pure white and approximately the size of a ping pong ball, whereas the other species produce oval or elongated eggs.
Leopard tortoises produce from 1 - 3 clutches of eggs per season and have a very long laying season. As of yesterday (11 May) one of my females was still laying.
Regarding the eggs, they can be incubated at room temperature but it is preferable to incubate them at a steady 25 degrees Celcius. It is not necessary to go any higher and you will not speed up incubation, but you may encourage the growth of fungus. Due to the amount of bone growth which needs to take place, the incubation period is very long compared to that of snakes and lizards - you will have to wait 9 to 12 months for them to hatch (Can't be more specific now, it's been a good couple of years since I last incubated any!).
Using a graphite pencil, make a small X on the top of the egg whichever way you have placed it in your incubation medium (vermiculite has always worked fine for me) in order to preserve the embryonic orientation for the period of incubation, as the embryo can be killed if the egg is turned during development. Keep any movement to a minimum although they should be fine if they are bedded in incubation medium.
Being hard shelled, the eggs are reasonably forgiving when it comes to humidity, but don't get them wet or they will get fungal infections just the same as other reptiles.
If you are fortunate enough to get hatchlings, pay close attention to your diets and go very easy on proteiens, Juvenile tortoises are very prone to pyramiding, osteoporosis and / or other forms of dietary maladies. The hatchlings will often come with alarmingly large yolk sacs still attached - just leave them in the humid and non-sharp environment of their incubation medium until the sacs are mostly or fully absorbed. They don't need feeding or watering during this period, which could last up to two weeks. The shrivelled yolk sac will then be absorbed or harden and the juvenile can be put onto gravel.
Good luck!