I’ll get right to the fact that no turtle eggs hatched for me in 2014. I realize now what I did wrong so let’s skim over my stupidity as quickly as possible and move on to other topics that showcase my brilliance.
This looks pretty good, right? The eggs are in the shoebox-sized plastic tub covered by Coir (coconut-fiber), and vermiculite. Under that is a bed of sand. Under the little tub is another bed of sand, maybe 3 inches (8 cm) deep. Under the bigger tub is a heating pad, the kind you would use if you were sick or cold. I set the pad on the lowest setting. I wanted even distribution of the heat on to the eggs so they would incubate at 80-85F. (27-30 C).
I then placed the plastic cover that came with the big tub over the whole thing. I didn’t fit it on tight. I left it a bit loose so there would be some circulation of fresh air to avoid mold.
Every few days I would open the lid and spray water over the eggs and sand.
The only glitch along the way was the time we had a power outage and the heater kicked off. I didn’t realize it for nearly a week. The temperature went below 70F (21C). I don’t think that caused a problem, though. It seems to me that in the wild turtle eggs could easily get colder than that and still hatch as long as the temperature eventually heated up. The incubation would just last longer.
When the time to hatch was getting near I checked the eggs. They were shriveled and dry. I was shocked. I thought I had kept them hydrated but then I realized that I had too much sand draining the moisture away. Even though the eggs were covered by Coir and vermiculite, they actually were sitting on sand that pulled moisture away.
This happened to two clutches of eggs. The mother turtle laid two sets of eggs in a very short time, only weeks apart, so both clutches were in the incubator together.
Here are the parent turtles (Red-eared sliders) in the pond.
After a hard rain it’s a good time to watch for the female turtle emerging from the pond to lay her eggs.
I carefully dug the eggs out of the wet ground. If you don’t see the turtle lay her eggs you will never find the nest, I promise.
This is the second clutch of the summer. There were 7 eggs in the first nest and six in this one.
If you’ve gotten this far you must be a turtle lover! Here are a few other turtle pictures just for fun.
Here’s old Peggy, a Central American Wood Turtle, finding a worm in her salad. I’ve had her almost 25 years!
Does this look like turtle food?
After the Hibiscus flower begins to wilt my Red-foot Tortoise gets a treat.
I picked up this Western Painted turtle while at a local park. I released her quickly, but not quick enough.
I never had this happen before. She peed. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â AÂ lot.
Tags: Central American Wood Turtle, Painted turtle, red eared slider, Red-foot Tortoise, turtle eggs, turtle pond