Another one hatched! Baby#2

Last night the second baby Russian tortoise hatched. I caught her peeking out of her egg when I checked the incubator one last time in the evening. I moved the egg into a separate container with a damp paper towel in the incubator, since I didn't want baby to ingest any of the incubation substrate.

Baby tortoise #2 pipping out of her shell

Then this morning, she was out of the shell and walking around. I briefly took her out of the incubator to weigh her and check her.

Just out of the shell, and already spunky!

S/he weighs 16g, and is fat and wiggly.

It's hard to imagine just how tiny they are! I have small hands, too.

She has the normal number of scutes, and interestingly, her color is much lighter than the first baby's shell.

Her fat little belly. She'll absorb the last bit of yolk soon.

This second hatchling still has a small yolk sac around her belly button. This will be absorbed in the next few days while she is still in the incubator. You can see the line where she was folded in half in the egg. The babies end up folded in half, with their back legs touching their front legs, and head by the tail. By the time I saw her this morning, she had fully uncurled.

Welcome to the world, little one! 2 babies hatched, 4 more eggs to go!