mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael A. Covington) (06/04/91)
Surely there is someone out there in netland who raises turtles as pets. One of my box turtles is about to lay eggs (probably doing it at this very moment). What is the best way to take care of the eggs? Should I leave them outdoors and protect them with chicken wire? If so, does the nest need to be protected from direct sunlight or direct rain? (I suspect that it's shallower than a normal nest.) Or should I build an incubator? HOW? Please answer only if you have actually raised turtles. I can think of a lot of educated guesses myself already; what I want to hear about are actual experiences. Answer by email, please; I don't read all the newsgroups that this is going into. By the way, I hope to have eggs from another box turtle, and from a red-eared pond slider, later in the summer. -- ------------------------------------------------------- Michael A. Covington | Artificial Intelligence Programs The University of Georgia | Athens, GA 30602 U.S.A. -------------------------------------------------------
sjg@reef.cis.ufl.edu (Steve Greenwald) (06/05/91)
In article <1991Jun4.045138.25889@athena.cs.uga.edu> mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael A. Covington) writes: >Surely there is someone out there in netland who raises turtles as >pets. My girlfriend and I do. We have successfully hatched and raised an ornate box turtle (western box turtle). >One of my box turtles is about to lay eggs (probably doing it at this >very moment). What is the best way to take care of the eggs? Should >I leave them outdoors and protect them with chicken wire? If so, does >the nest need to be protected from direct sunlight or direct rain? >(I suspect that it's shallower than a normal nest.) I'm guessing that you keep your turtles outside. We keep ours in an indoor/outdoor enclosure. I think that if your female digs her own nest in dirt and lays her eggs there, you should try leaving them and see what happens. She'll probably pick a good spot. They should hatch in about 3 months. The hatchlings will be about the size of a quarter. I would recommend against keeping them with any adults as it is quite possible that the adults will try to eat them! >Or should I build an incubator? HOW? If you turtle lays her eggs on the ground and doesn't dig a nest, then I would definitely incubate them. This is what we did with ours. First, get the eggs as fast as possible or your turtles may eat them. They love them. I once heard one of our females chirping and investigated and found her eating an egg she had just laid. She was as happy as could be slurping up the yolk. There are two schools of thought on incubation. The first is to get a small aquarium or plastic shoebox, and fill it with damp synthetic filter medium which you can get at any pet shop which has tropical fish supplies (it's like synthetic cotton). Dampen the medium by running it under water and squeezing the excess out. Put a few inches in the container. Then pour some water into the container so that there is about a centimeter of water in the bottom to keep everything moist. Put the egg(s) on top of the medium (but don't let them sit so low they are in the water) and then cover them with more damp filter floss. Keep them in a warm place (75 to 80 degrees F). The sex of the hatchlings is determined by the temperature of incubation (I don't have the exact data available). This is the method we used and it works. The second school of thought is that there are all sorts of important bacteria in soil which affect the viability of the eggs, and that it is better to incubate in soil. For this method, bury the eggs in damp potting soil. For both methods, keep the container covered and let some air in every few days, or cover with a cloth that will let air in and keep mold out. When the eggs are layed, they will be elliptical, and may have one side crushed in. This is okay, the crushed in side will swell out if the egg is viable. The single most important thing to realize about turtle eggs is that you ABSOLUTELY MUST not turn them over. As soon as the eggs are layed, take a pencil and place a mark on the top of the egg. Whenever you handle the egg, this mark must remain up. If they egg is flipped over it will almost certainly die because the delicate membranes inside will be ripped. This is quite a difference from bird's eggs. I can't stress the importance of this enough! Don't turn them over! If you are careful, you can candle the eggs about a month after they are layed to see if there is any development inside. Carefully take an egg out (you have to have a steady hand and NOT turn it over) and shine a bright light through it. If they egg is developing you will see a network of red veins. If the egg isn't fertile, you will see either nothing or a layer of yolk and a layer of egg white. I don't recommend that you candle the eggs unless you know what you are doing and are extremely careful! One slip and you can kill the egg! If the eggs aren't fertile, they will probably cave in some more, or get covered with mold. If you suspect an egg isn't fertile, carefully remove it and candle it. If you don't see development in a month it is probably dead. You can still try to incubate it, but don't allow it to contaminate any fertile eggs with mold. I think that any developing eggs contain an immune system that fights mold growth. Check your incubating eggs regularly. When they hatch, you will find baby turtles probably still inside part of their shell, waiting for you. They will have a yolk sack on their plastron, and probably will sleep for about a week or so, not eating. This is normal. After a few weeks they will start eating like pigs if they are healthy. The eat the same thing the adults eat (fruits and vegetables, soaked dry dogfood, monkey chow, etc.). I hope this helps. -- Steve Greenwald, graduate student Internet: sjg@ufl.edu Computer and Information Sciences University of Florida "The nice thing about standards is that you Gainesville, Florida have so many to choose from". -- Tanenbaum