Saturday, August 19, 2006
16 and Counting
It is an amazing and exciting happening. We now have 16 snapping turtle babies that have graduated to the real world of the marsh. This is over 50% of those collected and there are 10 to go.
It has not all been safe sailing. One little baby was barley released when it found out that it will be a few more years before they are no longer prey. It was just crawling across a lily pad when a bull frog lunged towards it. There was a great splash and no more turtle.
There is more to this story. When the one meets it froggy end, we were letting two others go. One of these had not moved since we spotted found it outside its egg shell. We wondered if it had died. When it was put on the edge of the marsh it just lay there for a few minutes. After the bull frog attack it waited a few more seconds and quickly dove into the water.
We are still waiting for any sign of life from the map turtle eggs, but still have hope.
It has not all been safe sailing. One little baby was barley released when it found out that it will be a few more years before they are no longer prey. It was just crawling across a lily pad when a bull frog lunged towards it. There was a great splash and no more turtle.
There is more to this story. When the one meets it froggy end, we were letting two others go. One of these had not moved since we spotted found it outside its egg shell. We wondered if it had died. When it was put on the edge of the marsh it just lay there for a few minutes. After the bull frog attack it waited a few more seconds and quickly dove into the water.
We are still waiting for any sign of life from the map turtle eggs, but still have hope.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
It’s Twins – and More to Come
I know that it is supposed to take at least 60 days for turtle eggs to hatch, but I was becoming a bit dubious. On August 10, millions of years of survival training once again prevailed despite human interference.
Almost exactly 60 days after the eggs were laid they started to hatch. Last Thursday, while checking on the clutch I noticed that one of the eggs had some black ‘dirt’ on it. I did not have my glasses and went to gently clean it off. It moved. With the benefit of assisted sight the ‘dirt ‘turned out to be the head and front legs of a small turtle. It has now broken most of the shell and is very active but still has not started to wander around.
Yesterday, the egg I was sure had rotted hatched. A coupe of weeks ago this egg started to ooze an amber jelly. It seemed to me a sure sign of ‘not doing well’. Luckily Brianna would not let me throw it out. When the shell broke open yesterday the baby turtle was moving but covered in a large amount of a viscous liquid. By this morning most of that was gone and it is looking much healthier. Brianna has told out photographer neighbour that she may have to call her in the middle of the night if the turtle leaves its shell. Luckily for all of us, Brianna sleeps better than I do.
The two eggs that have hatched are snapping turtles. There is no sign of life in the Map turtle tub but our optimism has increased. It is all we can do to keep from checking on them too often. When they are mobile it is into the marsh and we will consider this midwifery project at least a partial success. Still 26 snappers and 7 map turtle eggs to go.
Almost exactly 60 days after the eggs were laid they started to hatch. Last Thursday, while checking on the clutch I noticed that one of the eggs had some black ‘dirt’ on it. I did not have my glasses and went to gently clean it off. It moved. With the benefit of assisted sight the ‘dirt ‘turned out to be the head and front legs of a small turtle. It has now broken most of the shell and is very active but still has not started to wander around.
Yesterday, the egg I was sure had rotted hatched. A coupe of weeks ago this egg started to ooze an amber jelly. It seemed to me a sure sign of ‘not doing well’. Luckily Brianna would not let me throw it out. When the shell broke open yesterday the baby turtle was moving but covered in a large amount of a viscous liquid. By this morning most of that was gone and it is looking much healthier. Brianna has told out photographer neighbour that she may have to call her in the middle of the night if the turtle leaves its shell. Luckily for all of us, Brianna sleeps better than I do.
The two eggs that have hatched are snapping turtles. There is no sign of life in the Map turtle tub but our optimism has increased. It is all we can do to keep from checking on them too often. When they are mobile it is into the marsh and we will consider this midwifery project at least a partial success. Still 26 snappers and 7 map turtle eggs to go.
