Desert Tortoise: Hatchling Surprise
Posted at 4:20 pm November 2, 2009 by Paula Kahn
The surprise hatchling desert tortoise
DTCC volunteer Jim holds his exciting find.
Rachel put the newest addition to our herd in a small dish of water to give him a good drink and offered him a bite of food. When baby tortoises are in their shells, they are bent over, much like the fetal position of mammals, and this little guy is still bent over a bit and showing the last remains of his yolk under his plastron (bottom shell). He even has some egg shell still stuck on his head. You can see from the picture above that our little guy has a bit of a deformity in his carapace (top shell): it is indented on the whole right side. But when all is said and done, he seems healthy and certainly happy, regardless of his physical appearance, which we find endearing anyway.
He will now undergo a full medical exam, and he will join our other young hatchlings in our brand-new predator-proof hatchling quarantine pens, where he will hibernate for his first winter. This is a very important step for hatchlings, because studies have shown that hatchlings that are allowed to hibernate for their first winter are more likely to be healthy later in life. Thanks to volunteer Jim, this little tortoise, found accidentally on a cold October day, will live a long and healthy life.
Paula Kahn is a conservation program manager for the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research. Read her previous post, Tortoises on TV.
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November 2nd, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Thanks for the story. After a long, busy day, it made me smile.
November 2nd, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Well done, Jim! What a wonderful moment that must have been for all of you when the baby suddenly “came to life” and let out that endearing yawn. Paula, thank you for all the work you and your team are doing to preserve these wonderful tortoises.
November 3rd, 2009 at 1:03 am
I’m so glad you guys able to save the little one! Thanks for your hardwork.
November 3rd, 2009 at 4:10 am
what a cool story….miracle baby!
November 3rd, 2009 at 5:00 am
Thanks for sharing a great account of what happens when you are careful where and what you are digging and pay attention to the details. This hatchling was blessed to be found, fed, and kept warm enough to survive. Is it likely he would have made it if Jim had not had the good fortune to be digging in the right place at the right time? Would the hatchling have made it to warm shelter to hibernate naturally? It sounds like that would not have happened because it was buried so deep in the sand.
November 3rd, 2009 at 9:05 am
Are tortoise hatchling’s shells fairly soft when they first hatch? If so, is there a chance the little one’s shell will lose its deformity? I’m thinking of a human newborns soft skull, and how if it is mishapen it can be corrected with one of those helmet things (or just making sure the baby doesn’t always lie in one position).
Whatever the outcome, this is truly a miracle “baby!” Thanks for sharing this with us!
November 3rd, 2009 at 9:15 am
this story reminds me of a turtle i had that went missing for a year. it was one of those tiny turtles that you usually only find in chinatown now. they are about the size of a silver dollar. sorry i don’t know their proper name. we found this little turtle in my mother’s ironing basket which sorry to say hadn’t been touched in a year. i thought for sure that he must be dead. i didn’t know turtles hybernated and was certain he had been eaten by one of my many cats long ago. after a few minutes though out popped his little head and he lived about another year. gosh i love those little turtles. does anyone happen to know if they are endangered and if so is that the reason they are not sold in too many places? thanks so much.
November 3rd, 2009 at 9:25 am
Very cool story ! So, how does one make it through and the others dont ? Does this mean he came from the same batch of eggs that did not hatch ?
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:45 am
What a great story! I’m so glad this little guy is going to have a long, happy life because of the dedication and care of all the great people at the DTCC! It’s also really interesting to learn so many details about baby tortoises! It never crossed my mind to think about how their shells fit inside the egg. Really cool!
November 3rd, 2009 at 6:21 pm
This is a very heartwarming story, and right up there with a true one about one of my desert tortoises. A friend’s elderly parents who had the mother and father did not know that the female had laid eggs in the back yard. This particular hatchling,after emerging from the nest, was picked up by the family dog and brought over to the garage where the husband was working. The dog dropped and picked up the hatchling a couple of times before the husband realized what the dog had in its mouth. He took the baby tortoise from the dog (and initiated a search of the yard, locating and saving the others), and brought it inside to be cleaned up. They saw 3 puncture holes, one in the carapace and 2 in the plastron. They called an older man they knew with a ton of knowledge about tortoises and asked his advice. He told them to clean the wounds well, make sure they were dry and then cover with a little “bondo” (used in auto body repair). It was touch and go and nobody was sure if this little guy was going to make it. I am happy to report that 17 years later he is huge, weighs a good 15 pounds and all those bondo spots are grown out. He came to live with us when he was five because of a death in the family, and is now doing exceptionally well. He shell was pyramided from lack of proper care prior to coming to his new home 12 years ago, but he’s very happy and well-loved.
Quick thinking and kindness from that elderly couple gave this little hatchling a chance to make it.
Keep up the good work, DTCC
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Thanks for all the feedback, everyone! If Jim hadn’t found this little tortoise, he most certainly would not have survived. This baby tortoise somehow had the strength to hatch while, sadly, his siblings did not, and unfortunately he was not strong enough to dig himself to the surface because the desert ground is so compacted – it’s just too monumental a task for a little guy his size, especially considering the weather! I don’t even want to think about what would have happened if Jim hadn’t paid such close attention to what he was doing – great job, Jim! Hatchling shells tend to stay a bit soft for about a year, so we are hoping his little deformity will work itself out, as Gretchen suggested. In any case, even with his deformity, and maybe because of it, he’s quite a cutie.
Liz, regarding your question about the little turtles that used to be sold everywhere, you may be referring to a red-eared slider. They are very popular as pets since they are so cute when they’re little (isn’t everything cute when it’s little?!), but as they grow, they need significantly more care and much bigger enclosures so many people dump them in local waterways to “set them free.” This is incredibly damaging to local ecosystems because those turtles will eat anything, and I do mean anything – plants, fish, anything they can get their beaks on. So now it is not legal to sell them in many places, but turtle vendors get around this by requesting a donation in exchange for a turtle, or they label them “for educational purposes only” so only people who claim to be school teachers can buy them. In any case, these animals live a long time and require a lot of work if you are going to house them properly, so if you know anyone who wants one, try to convince them not to get one, and if you can’t convince them, then at the very least try to convince them to adopt one from a turtle rescue group – they are over-ridden with them for exactly the reasons I described. And much like puppy mills, when you buy a turtle from a pet store because you think you’re saving it, all you’re doing is making a space available for another turtle to be sold. Always adopt when you can!
November 4th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Oh what a neat suprise, Thank you Jim for finding the little guy, His name should be Miracle. Hope he will be just fine
)
November 4th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
This made my day, I have a number of torts and turts, three of which are CA Desert Torts. Many thanks to all those involved in this endeavor on the desert . . . we are a kinder population when we bow to those creatures smaller than we are.
If you are not able to feed 100 people, well then just feed one. a quote from Mother Theresa of which I like to adapt to saving torts!
Melinda Marcelletti
San Diego
November 5th, 2009 at 9:35 am
Awww! Can I adopt him? Our male CA desert tort has an underbite- it’s so cute- they’d make good friends when the baby is old enough. Good job Jim!!!
November 5th, 2009 at 11:01 am
What a great story – so glad that Jim was able to give this a guy a second chance (well, really I guess it was a first chance
). Just wondered if the ground is always this hard or if it’s because of the extra dry conditions much of the southwest has been experiencing?
I was just looking at the Wish List for this month and saw some nice items to help tortoises towards the bottom of the list. Others might light to check it out -
https://secure3.convio.net/sdzoo/site/Ecommerce?store_id=1221
November 6th, 2009 at 12:09 am
That is one lucky tortoise. Thank you, everyone, for saving him.
November 6th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Thank you to volunteer Jim for saving this little tortoise.
November 6th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Hi, What a nice story, I’m so glad Jim found him. He just might be my next love next to little stud muffin panda.
Thank again,
THE LOVE SICK PANDA FAN
November 6th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Yay, Jim! Good eyes. Good luck to everyone giving this little guy a chance.
November 6th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
I hope that the baby tortoise is continuing to do well in the pen at the center. Thank you, Jim.You’re a hero.
November 6th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Good Job Jim!
November 7th, 2009 at 7:17 am
Thanks for all your hard work, people like you and everyone at the Zoo make this a better place. Good luck to the Baby Tort. Thanks Jim
November 7th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Talk about rewarding work!!! Great story. Congrats!
November 10th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Thank you for a very heartwarming story. I’ll bet you have inspired everyone to be extra careful and vigilant when digging in the burrows. Truly a miracle hatchling!
November 14th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
I would name this little turtle ” LUCKY ” if I were you. quite fitting under the circumstances. I bet Jim was very surprised to find this little guy when he was digging. GOOD EYE JIM! good luck to all the little hibernating hatchlings. keep us posted!