This is my favorite time of year in the reptile department of my zoo. Spring is here, and that means one thing. When I come in on Wednesdays, I’m often greeted by sights like this:
(click on them to enlarge)
In this box, we have two different subspecies of Madagascan spider tortoise; Pyxis arachnoides arachnoides and Pyxis arachnoides brygooi. I can tell the difference from here. I’ll show you how.

P.a. brygooi like to burrow. They hatch, they burrow. P. a. arachnoides hang around on top of the substrate.
These babies are all genetically pretty valuable, as both species are critically endangered in their native Madagascar. Any successful hatching is significant, but sometimes some offspring are even more valuable to the program.
There’s someone I want to you meet, but allow me just a moment to tell you its story. When animals are taken out of the wild and reproduce, that next generation of offspring is known as F1. It’s not unusual for animals to reproduce in captivity after being removed from the wild. Tortoises, rhinos, cheetah, elephants. The real trick is in getting an F2, that next generation, one that is truly captive bred. F1 and F2. Sounds like a series of astromech droids, doesn’t it?
Now allow me to introduce you to our very first F2 Common Spider Tortoise.
A couple of days later, it emerged completely after having absorbed the last remaining bit of yolk. And lest we forget the gratuitous belly button shot:

It may take a few weeks for its umbilicus to disappear completely. Currently there are tiny wrinkles around its belly button where it is closing up.
It’s roughly the size of a quarter, the very first offspring of both parents. There are very few, if any, other F2 of this type anywhere in the world. I am so proud of my zoo and their dedicated staff for what they have done to perpetuate this species! Well done, Michael!
That’s so cool! And I didn’t know that tortoises autograph their eggs.
Doesn’t every artist sign their magnum opus?
Heh heh, I was wondering about that, too 😉
P.S. What is the writing on the egg for?
It contains necessary info like species, who the parents are, and the date the egg was laid. If you look close, you can tell these eggs were laid in July. It’s a lot of hurry up and wait with tortoises!
Neat!
Congratulations!
(He has your eyes)
Scaly and swollen. I agree.
I love tortoise day!! Happy Belated Tortoise Day!
Happy Tortoise Day!
That is so neat!
It is one of the coolest things. At least I think so!
I just love that you find a way to work in astromech droid! I know a few kids that would be so amused and proud
I am glad someone noticed!
That totally made my Friday morning. Thanks.
So glad I could share!
Awww, who doesn’t like baby pictures?? Thanks!
And especially babies that don’t wake us up in the middle of the night!
Cool! Thank you for sharing the photos and expalining what we are seeing.
Russ
My pleasure! My favorite shot is the baby sleeping in the egg with its little eye closed.
Reblogged this on omreddy.
Thank you for the reblog!
Awww! Awakenings!! I will refrain from additional baby comments, but please know it’s very difficult for me.
You can make all the baby comments you want. But remember, I’m rubber and you’re glue! 😛
Beautiful! Thanks for sharing this.
My pleasure. They are my favorite things!
Excellent! Congrats to your zoo.
Thank you! I’m pretty proud of them.
BEBEH TORTOISES!!!! They are wonderful! I saw this at work today and saved it for tonight so I could revel in the adorableness!
Wait until next week! Just wait. Nature in all its freakish cuteness!
Amazing. Excuse me for sounding like a complete novice, but darn if I knew that tortoises had belly buttons.. or umbilical cords..
Most people don’t realize. I learned myself a couple of years ago. They are attached to their yolk via an umbilicus and use the yolk to feed as they grow in the egg. The belly button fades in days, months or years, depending on the species.
That is such a neat thing ! I’d just thought all egg babies somehow absorbed it. Mouth, skin any pores? Haha. Thanks for sharing!
I always ask those hard hitting questions. “Does it have a belly button?”
Lol! I would’ve never thought. Not for a tortoise.
I love seeing the baby tortoises!
Me, too!
Learn something new all the time. I am with Laughing Duck, belly buttons and umbilical cords, tortoises; who knew.
Love your zoo is having such success.
I am full of useless and trivial knowledge. I try to share when I can. If you want to see more, you can search my blog for “tortoise belly button.” Or wait until next week. More pics coming!
So cute! What a cute belly button!
I had no idea there was a such thing as a tortoise belly button. I certainly didn`t know you could search someone`s blog for more information on such topics. Cool.
How simply gorgeous – you do tortoise porn so very well!
Great great pictures, thank you for sharing your passion with us! While the brygooi hatchling likes to burrow and the arachnoides one likes to hang out, what about oblonga? Have you ever hatched those?
We have five hatchlings, most of them from last year. They haven’t gone to bed yet.
How cool that you know what they are!