Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Earlier this spring a buddy of mine called me up because an eastern box laid its nest right by his mailbox - where all the cars in the neigborhood turn around to get their mail and newspaper, and the eggs would surely be crushed within a few days. Since I do a reptile rescue, he hoped I could help.

So we pulled the eggs out of harm's way and threw them in an incubator for a couple months. As expected, a couple eggs turned out to be empty and shrivled, and a four remained in great shape and swelled just a little and looked like they were ready to hatch, but I think I made a HUGE mistake.

I noticed a couple tiny bugs in the dirt they were nested in, and rather than changing it to fresh dirt, I just left them be to leave things a little more like they were in nature. Then, as soon as the eggs began to crack open, the eggs died.

Did I kill the poor little guys by leaving the bugs to get them as soon as they hatched? I guess if that's why they died, it would have killed them in the wild too, because they were in the dirt they were nested in, but my friend and I both felt terrible we did so much to save the hatchlings and yet not enough. What do you think turtle experts, did the BUGS do them in or could it have been anything else that close to hatching time?
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Jesse Rothacker
Forgotten Friend Reptile Sanctuary
Find out how YOU can get involved in reptile rescue...
www.forgottenfriend.org

I'm guessing you mean those little white almost see through bugs tiny little things naturally found in soil.. no they wont harm the eggs or hatchlings, I hatched 34 snappers in soil infested with those little things and none of the turtles died, I'd look at other possible causes, were the hatchlings fully formed?
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My Site
1.2.1 Terrapene Carolina Triunguis
0.0.1 Nymphicus hollandicus
1.0 Melopsittacus undulatus
1.1 American Cocker Spaniels
1.0 American Short Hair? Cat
1.1 Rouen Ducks

Yes those were the kind of bugs I saw in my turtle soil. Now I really regret not opening up the eggs to see how well formed the hatchlings were. They four good eggs looked perfect right up until the scheduled hatching week, and my wife and I even thought we saw the eggs "move" the slightest bit like the hatchlings were working their way out. The eggs even cracked in a couple places like they were breaking through, but nothing ever emerged.

To be honest though, because I was busy keeping up with about 20 other reptiles from my rescue and rep-ed program, I didn't give much thought to why the eggs died because I assumed it must have been the bugs.

I hatched them just under 80 degrees and kept a moist paper towl over the dirt to hold in moisture. I guess without having opened up the eggs, there's no way to tell what went wrong?

Thanks for your thoughts.
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Jesse Rothacker
Forgotten Friend Reptile Sanctuary
Find out how YOU can get involved in reptile rescue...
www.forgottenfriend.org

were their baby turtles in the dead eggs?