Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This time, its the first time for this one of our girls: she's all grown up now!
This is actually her second try: the night before last she encountered a thick root and abandoned her effort.
We're observing from a discreet distance to see how she progresses.
Stephanie

Do you ever post pictures of your turtles and their behaviors.
I know I would like to see some of your "Girls" and their future families. I'm jealious! as I'm stuck with two great male Boxies who live in my garden I've posted their pictures several times in the past. I read the fourm everynight............very
interesting.
Thanks norristhenut

I would like to post some pictures soon: I am not very 'computer literate' so I've been faced with some challenges. Until recently we've only had film cameras. Very nice ones, but film, not digital. I had some images transferred to disc (if thats the correct terminology), but still haven't quite figured out how to get them into the gallery here. Pretty pitiful, eh?
The digital camera that we DO own has been co-opted by my husband: so much for it having been a Christmas present from him to me...
Any way, since it hasn't really been a top priority for me, I confess that I haven't been making as great an effort as I could or should to get my act together and figure the whole thing out. I also just recently acquired a scanner, so hopefully I will have some images to show everyone soon.
Thanks for asking. I never cease to marvel at the beauty and variety of their shell patterns.

Stephanie

Another false start: she encountered a root again. Poor kid.
Maybe tonight will be the night.
Stephanie

I am so jealous of you. I only have 2 clutches I'm incubating right now. I'm sure the other females I have already dropped. Just don't know where. I'm just guesstimating, but I figure I have at least 8/9 clutches in the ground. I just don't want to dig. My belief is that once they are in the ground & don't know where they are, it's up to nature. I just think I'll do more damage to the eggs while digging & moving about in the enclosure. Usually when I miss so many, one maybe two clutches at most will hatch successfully. Wish someone could invent a piece of equipment that can show you the shape of eggs in the ground. Anyway, it definitely won't be too busy a winter for me. Good luck with all your eggs.

Thanks... I think you're right about not digging around if you're not sure where the nest is: its not worth the risk.
And we'll see about that jealousy issue in a few more weeks, when I will well and truly have my hands full... Hopefully they will thrive once they are released.
Stephanie

I used to feel it best to leave potential nests alone until one morning when I found the remains of two hatchlings that were discovered by adult turtles before me. My habitat is 8ft by 6ft, large enough I thought but the babies did not stand a chance. Has anyone else had that experience? Very disheartening! Now I dig gently on the perimeter and have successfully hatched 9 babies and am currently incubating 5 more. I feel that I've made it more difficult for nature to take it's course by keeping turtles, even though I am confident the adults I keep would have faced a very uncertain future left in the places they were found. (my own suburban yard and a construction site)

That must have been really awful.
It has probably happened to others out there: I've heard accounts of turtles eating eggs, too.
I haven't had that happen, and in fact, that is one of several reasons why I try to keep an eye on the girls this time of year. I try to get a good look at where they're digging, and then go in the next morning to carefully uncover the nest & remove the eggs for incubation inside.
Another reason is that, in a confined space, another female may accidentally uncover a nest while digging her own: last year we had a close call, when a nest was dug right next to where one had been dug a day or two befor. Luckily I had already removed the eggs from the first nest, though.
Stephanie

I never had that experience of boxies eating/killing the hatchlings, but I have had quite a number of clutches destroyed by digging boxies. After reading your post, I gave in to the pressure & went out and just started digging. After about a minute, (yes, one minute) I broke an egg. (Actually, Didn't think I was going to find any so fast) I found a clutch. How lucky can I get? Dug out 4 more eggs in the incubator. Will go out tommorrow & try again. Why? BECAUSE OF YOUR BAD EXPERIENCE! Don't know if I should yell at you or thank you for the extra mouths to feed. (ONLY KIDDING)But thanks.

I hope all goes well. I'm starting to have some concerns for the eggs I found most recently. A few are slightly dented. As hard as it is to carefully dig and incubate and WORRY about eggs, nothing compares to the sick feeling of my prior experience. We are in the planning stages of a much larger enclosure and hope with more space, surprise hatchlings will have a better chance. On the flip side, We have nine awesome yearlings after last years digging. Good luck

You can mark turtles so that you can identify them at a latter time. Take a not too large file and u can file notches in the side of the shell were there is an overhang by there legs. I have read that one person who has a lager estate on Long Island NY has done this and they can tell what turtle it is many years latter. I read that they were original carving numbers into the shell to identify the turtles. But now they just notch them. Of course you have to keep a record of were and how many notches you make in any one turtle to identify it latter.
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Jack

Thanks Jack. I don't think I'd want to try that on a tiny hatchling, though.
I don't know if it would really be an effective way of marking a growing turtle, since the notch might heal and smooth out considerably over time, and might no longer be readily recognizable.
Of course, personally, I wouldn't want to hurt one of the little guys either....
I think I 've heard of the L.I. estate you're talking about: isn't that where they recently re-captured the great-grandaddy turtle that was well over 100 yrs old (documented)?
Regards
Stephanie

It Could be were they have a 100 year old boxie. Its been sever years since i read about these turtles there. Some turtles would show up after not being seen for 20 years.
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Jack