You read that correctly. A baby Eastern Hermann’s hatched January 24th, 2024 with 5 feet. It is 100% healthy and doing fantastic, its just a little faster than the other babies…We will never know exactly what causes these types of deformities, but a-lot of theories are that it occurs due to genetic mutation, exemplified by […]
The 4(d) rule is a regulation established under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that provides special protections for species listed as threatened, but not endangered. The Egyptian tortoise is one such species that is listed as threatened under the ESA, and as such, it is protected by the 4(d) rule. The 4(d) rule for the […]
Cherry blossom trees and cherry head tortoises may seem like two completely unrelated things, but they share one interesting similarity: they both hatch at a particular time of year. In this post, we will explore the differences and similarities between these two phenomena. Cherry Blossom Trees: Cherry blossom trees are native to Japan, but they […]
Its Indian star season here at Tortstork. Indian stars mate in the spring, lay eggs through summer, but it takes on average 100-125 days for them to fully incubate. They first started hatching at the end of August, and they will continue to hatch through December. If you are interested in watching these gorgeous tortoises […]
Our 556th hatch a tortoise egg shipped on 3/21/22. It traveled overnight 2,328 miles to Bozeman, Montana. On 3/28/22 (9 days later) it started to pip and 16 hours later it was fully hatched! The baby eastern Hermann’s entered the world in its forever home. The new owner was able to experience the beginning of […]
I get asked a lot about how i raise my baby Egyptian hatchlings. I always respond with “less is routine.” Egyptian hatchlings get easily stressed out, because they don’t like change. Babies wake up, warm up, eat, sleep and start that routine all over through out the day. My enclosures are simple because that has […]
Yes! Tortoises can have twins. When a female tortoise is ready to make an egg, the egg yolk is released from the ovaries and travels through the fallopian tubes to be fertilized. The egg then gets coated with a thick layer protein, minerals and water, which is the albumen (egg whites). The egg continues down […]
Imagine hatching a rare Hypomelanistic red footed tortoise. It would be amazing right? Now, imagine it being deformed with 10 claws on one foot. Even more amazing right? Only if you’re a children’s book author and you turn it into a character for a future book. Meet Polly, the hypo red footed tortoise with 10 […]
This has been the year of the Russian tortoise. Tortstork would be sold out of the hatchlings, before they were even hatched! Between Hatch A Tortoise eggs and the demand for baby hatchlings, we couldn’t keep up. We now have some absolutely stunning Russian hatchlings available. If you have been waiting for that perfect moment […]
Tortstork shipped out its 378th egg this week and it successfully hatched! Our successful hatch rate is 94.44%. The failures vary from unknown reasons, but there are some theories. It could be form mishandling during shipping to not having the right incubator to having too high of a temperature in the incubator to delays in […]