Turtle Eggs

[MadReefer]

About two weeks ago my wife found an egg while weeding. My son went over and dug some more and found 13 more eggs. Four were eaten by ants and fifth was cracked open, baby only lived for about an hour. He put the remaining nine in the incubator. Tonight one of the eggs started to hatch, see pics. We have a bet as to what they are. I have only seen snappers and sliders in the yard. So went with slider because of the egg shape. He went with Diamond backs. The creek to the bay is two houses down from us. Will post more pics as things happen.

 

[Sandee]

OMG! Amazing! Where are you located? I'd love to see them! I have a beautiful Diamondback ...

 

[Tazmaniancowboy]

That is really cool, Keep us updated!

 

[TanksNStuff]

Mark... are you sure they aren't aliens?

Seriously though, that's pretty cool. Can't wait to see how they turn out!

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[REEFLECTIONS]

those def are diamond backs, even though the babies are the cutest things, i think they are a threatened species

 

[MadReefer]

It finally broke out its shell. I guess I did lose the bet being its a DBT. Never seen any near the house before why I said Slider. Should have known better he has been tracking turtles for years.

 

[REEFLECTIONS]

is that reef safe.... haha

 

[Hawkeye]

you have a diy incubator or you bought one mark?

that is awesome that one hatched! so cool.

 

[ThatGuy]

Very Cool, but Don't get caught with those.

Also why'd you incubate? Normally you just leave them in a non airconditioned room and they do just fine.

 

[MadReefer]

Phil,
My son bought a Hova-Bator incubator a few years ago.

That-Guy, These are sold all over the place and legal to have. Yes, they are threatened.
We incubated the eggs because some were dented and with high humidity they can return to normal or very close.

The plan is to keep whatever hatches over the winter and let them go in the Spring.

 

[grink]

Great show and tell for the school year!

 

[HH reefer]

i keep 3 to 5 every year and release them in the spring. i feed mine freexe dried shrimp for first month and goldfish and ghost shrimp after that so when i release them they know how to hunt for food. just got 3 new ones last weekend

 

[MadReefer]

Three more hatched last night and a few more are starting to hatch today.

 

[asonitez]

Those are so cool. How do you care for them?

 

[Hawkeye]

Those are so cool. How do you care for them?

I would assume they are similar to any other aquatic turtle and will readily consume baby fish fry (i hope people don't frown on me but i bred guppies for this purpose at one time) and similar meaty materials. As they age they add more vegetable matter into their diet. At least this is my experience with red earred sliders.

 

[MadReefer]

Phil,
You are correct. These are carnivores. I will have to feed them blood worms and move up to large live food as they grow until released.
Also, they require brackish water.

 

[Chrisgarrick]

Very very cool!

 

[MadReefer]

All but one left to hatch.

 

[TanksNStuff]

Awesome! Glad they're all hatching. Cute lil buggers.

 

[Sandee]

Very nice ...