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Posted on November-02-11 3:44 PM
Today, Mike and LIndsay are very pleased and excited to announce that two little spectacled caiman babies have emerged from their eggs alive and active around 10:00 a.m. on their 90th day in incubation. A third little one tried to hatch during the night (or early this morning) and passed away before it made it out into the world. Its body is now preserved for display and education purposes.
The two little ones appear to be healthy, with all limbs, toes, and short little snouts intact. They have been set up in a large tank with a rocky area on one side for a dry spot, and lots of water for swimming and drinking on the other. |
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Lindsay: Posted on October-09-11 9:40 AM
Today our caiman eggs are 65 days old. This means that the countdown is now in its final stages as we have reached the minimum number of incubation days. The eggs could hatch any time now within the next 38 days.
We do know for a fact now that we have at least 3-4 babies as we have candled the eggs again and have not only seen outlines of wee little caimans, but also some movement. It is still unknown as to how many we may have hatch out, or whether or not the infants will be healthy, but so far we have seen some promising development. |
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Lindsay: Posted on September-10-11 11:08 AM
Just wanted to give you all a quick update on the progress of the caiman eggs. As of right now we have 9 eggs that have very noticeable bands formed on them. The first time we candled the eggs we didn't see any veins and had been a little confused as to why, since in most eggs you do see veins if they are fertile. To get a little more advise on what to look for and how to tell which eggs are indeed viable, we went to one of the most knowledgeable sources that we could find -- Python Hunter, Shawn Heflick. |
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Lindsay: Posted on August-20-11 9:38 AM
A couple of weeks ago, on a rather rainy and slow day at the zoo, a family came in to visit and meet the animals. During the tour they took great interest in the caiman eggs and as it turned out the father of this family is a reporter for The Weekly News and was very much interested in writing a story about the eggs as this is not something that happens very often, especially in Nova Scotia.
Some conversation and a few photos later in the week, a story was written. This Friday (August 19) the story was published. |
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Lindsay: Posted on August-18-11 10:42 AM
Welcome to our new blog! We decided to add this feature to our site as a way to keep everyone better informed on the happenings within the zoo, especially now as our first season is coming to a close. Right now, the number one thing that we will be focusing on are our caiman eggs that are currently in incubation in our zoo.
Splashes, our female spectacled caiman, laid 23 eggs on August 5th. We had suspected that she was gravid when she started doing a lot of digging and rearranging of the substrate in the enclosure. |
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