Turtle Tales

We have been having a good amount of moisture this spring. I thought these clouds were so pretty the other evening - I suppose if they were hail clouds, there were some people who didn't think they were very pretty!

Here are Dave and Monique checking out the garden. We are already enjoying early vegetables like lettuce, beet greens, onions, radishes and snap peas.

Here is a true story especially for the grandkids, but anyone else is welcome to read it too!

A Turtle Tale

This morning as grandpa left to head to Lusk he saw this snapping turtle laying her eggs on the side of the road a little way from our driveway.

Snapping turtles would not win any beauty contests - it isn't smart to get too close as they can be agressive and have a nasty bite, so I zoomed in to take this picture!

Thes turtle was about 15 to 18 inches from nose to tail - it had a pretty long tail that you can't really see in the dirt. As we watched, I saw her lay an egg - just a flash of white. It didn't look like she was laying them very deep, maybe she was pushing them down with her feet.

I don't know how long she was there before we saw her, but she stayed there for 45 minutes or so. After she left, this is what the nest looked like. I figured the eggs would all get broken by traffic so decided to rescue them. I first called the Game and Fish to see if they wanted to do something with them. I was told that snapping turtles are not protected or endangered, so he suggested to just shoo her off the road and see if she would go elsewhere to lay her eggs. Also he said if we didn't want the turtles around to just destroy the eggs. He said I could have the eggs if I wanted them - there is no law against it I guess! We rather like the turtles, and rarely see them although they obviously live in the little pond that is just below our house. I researched on the internet to see how to hatch snapping turtle eggs. The information I found said to put them in a plastic shoe box with 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 sand. I begged a little peat moss off my neighbors and mixed it in with some soft dirt - I hope it works as I didn't have any vermiculite. It is best to have an incubator, which I don't have - but it said to keep the eggs around 75-80 degrees, moist but not dripping, and dark like in a warm closet. Interesting to note, the warmer the temperature, the more females will hatch and cooler will hatch more males. It can take 60 to 90 days or more to hatch - sometimes if it is cool it will take 120 or the eggs will winter over and not hatch until the next year.

Wouldn't you know it, just as I went out to dig for the eggs I looked up and there came the road grader. I am sure the driver wondered about the crazy lady kneeling on the side of the road digging with a garden trowel, but he did stop and not run over me! I explained what was happening - at first he seemed a little disbelieving but did agree to work on another part of the road and give me time to dig up my treasure! I thought it would be easy digging since the turtle had just left and nothing had gone over it - I was wrong. I don't know how she packed the dirt and gravel in so hard over the eggs - but it was not at all easy to just dig them out. I was trying to do it gently as I didn't know how deep they were, but I had to chip away at it for awhile before I finally found the eggs around 10 inches down.

The information I had found on the internet said it was important to keep the eggs in the same orientation as you found them - top side up - or the baby turtles would drown. I tried to mark the tops with a little x from a Sharpie - but it didn't write very good on the damp sandy eggs. I did my best but I am not absolutely positive they are all right side up. There were 39 eggs clustered closely. I broke one getting them out so rescued 38.

The instructions said to cover them 1/2 way with the soil. I planted them in rows - sort of like planting big seeds in a garden! I decided to cover them mostly up - after all, they were 10 inches underground by nature, and I think momma turtle probably knew what she was doing, although laying them on the road wasn't too smart. They are not supposed to dry out - the shells are not hard like a chicken egg but they aren't leathery either. They are pretty delicate and some had a dent in them - a little bit pliable. I left 6 of them half burried as an experiment. Now I need to figure out where to put them that they will be moist and warm enough but not too warm - 80 degrees isn't really very hot. I don't know if they will hatch or not - but it will be interesting if they do. I am pretty sure they wouldn't have survived there on the road. If anyone knows anything about hatching turtle eggs or has any advice, it would be welcome! If we get any baby turtles, I will post a picture of them.