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Care Sheet

Housing

>>Incubation

If you want to take the eggs indoor to hatch, you might need an incubator. First take the eggs from the site where they are laid by digging till the eggs show up, but don't move or turn the eggs. Use a marker and make a small 'X' on the egg shell so that we know which side of the egg is facing up. Turtle eggs require no turning or rotating on either longitudinal axis, unlike bird eggs. Then scoop them up gently and take them indoor for incubation.
I am not sure if in weather like Singapore's, incubator is needed or not.

Setting up your own incubator (source from book):
Material:
1 thermostat/heater (like those for chicks)
1 thermometer
1 heat tape
1 Styrofoam cooler (like the box for shipping fish with lid, not too small)
1 container small enough to fit into the cooler
Vermiculite or soft substance to put eggs on

* Put heat tape in loop series at the bottom of cooler
* Attach tape to thermostat
* Poke two holes in the lid of the cooler, one for the thermostat, another for the thermometer
* Make sure they suspend into the cooler and don't slip right through the hole
* Check temperature after a while
* Adjust to about 28-30°C
* Wait 1/2 hr before checking the temperature again
* Line container with thick vermiculite (sprinkled some water in it) and place eggs in with the 'X' facing upward
* Put the container (need not cover) into the cooler
* To increase humidity, put a small cup of water next to the container and close the lid
* Check temperature daily

Now wait for the eggs to hatch! It will take about 60-100 days. If the eggs turned mouldy, just wipe gently with a clean cloth. If an egg rot, throw it away, but if the eggs stuck together, just leave it. The eggs might hatch on different days. Do not attempt to pry open the eggs! The baby sliders will hatch out of the eggs fine by breaking the egg shell with their egg-tooth. The egg-tooth will drop some time after hatching.

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