I found her laying her eggs this am. You can see how she pushed the dirt behind her to lay the eggs. Later, when I went back, she had them all covered like a good mommy.
It was like having National Geographic right in my own back yard.
Her shell was about 12" long.
Hap
What a beauty. How lucky you are to have seen this little miracle. Thanks for sharing. So what kind of turtle is it and how long does it take the eggs to hatch? I want to see pics of baby turtles :-) gram
Turtles!!! another of my all time favorites. Good Mommy for sure!!
I love turtles. :)
Is there something etched on her shell? Looks like some kind of design on it. Sheverne
2v
I noticed on MY mommie's shell that it looked like a coconut. The striations were very similar. Forget the square patches.... And she was BIG too.
Hap
Grampapa, I have no answers to your questions. But I am a Grammma. and from Rochester NY....23 years ago. My sons are still there with 3 grandbabies. I sent them the pix of the happening. I really thought it was neat.
Thanks for all the responses, I just love nature....
How wonderful you were there to see it! I hope you will post pictures if you see any babies hatching. Congratulations to both of you!
I certainly will watch this with waited breath. It's not every day that a 65 year old woman becomes a MaMa....hehehe]
Hello again Happy-1, I just came across this turtle forum by accident, and thought I'd post it here. If you wanted to post the pic of your mommy turtle to this forum, they could probably tell you more about it.
http://www.turtletimes.com/Forums/
I have thought for days about your comment that "it was like having National Geographic right in my own back yard." That is such a perfect summary. I think more people would find they, too, had National Geographic in their own back yards, if they could just find the time to look!
OMH,
I think that you hit the nail on the head....people don't take the time. To me Mother Nature has the corner of the market on surprises, amazements, excitements etc. To see things happen is truly a gift from God.
I will check out that forum. Thanks
Happy_1, will you let us know what you find out? I'm fascinated? That turtle is so pretty. The only ones I've seen here are snappers, and little ones at that. Not that they aren't neat, but they sure are not pretty. gram
I sure will gram.
I would think that it would take a couple of weeks to hatch. Whatever, I will be watching it every day.
Hap
Generally tutle eggs take longer than 2 weeks and your turtle looks like it might be a Musk Turtle.
How exciting to have one in your yard! I have two turtles, well, one is a Tortoise and I have only had one egg..it never hatched but that was in the house.
Here is our Turtle, Prince he is a Box Turtle we found him in 1980 something
melva,
Why doesn't mine have any pretty markings on her back. She looks exactly like a shriveled coconut.
Yes, I am very lucky for I live on an active lake with just about everything that God put in Florida, Central America, Africa, and all points in between. So many people buy exotics and when they get tired of them or the babes just get too big, they let them go. With the ideal climate here, it doesn't take long for them to take over. Right now around here, we are having problems with too many Boas. The critter people are pulling 20'-25' boas out from under houses fairly regularly. Then of course, they love the Everglades.
I even have visits from Wood Storks and a youngen'. I believe that they are endangered, but I gots dem.....Yippee. I even have parrots in my trees. Boy, is a far departure from Rochester, NY from whence I came 23 years ago.
Rattleing again, oh my. It's just that it is like paridise here.
Hap
Well, Hap, Rochester is just up the road apiece from me. Maybe someday I'll retire and move to Florida and have parrots in my trees and boas under my house. well..skip the boas, but the parrots sound wonderful. I guess people will never learn. gram who's not old enough to retire but sure feels like it
Some turtles have pretty markings and then there are those, like the one that you have...
Our tortoise, Graham, has cool markings
Right Melva....it's a good thing that this is not my baby or what you said would be fighten words......ROTFL
"There are pretty babys and then there is YOURS....... Sure good that I have a skin like a turtle. Best laugh I've had today. Thanks.
gram.....are you near Bloomfield? And moving to FL is not the worse thing that you could do. It's heaven...
Hap
I didn't agree that your turtle looks like a shriveled coconut...LOL!
I'm in Wheatfield, about halfway between Buffalo & Niagara Falls, so Rochester is about 90 min. up the road. Florida does sound like heaven. This time of year I like western NY, but I may drop in on you to check on that turtle around the middle of January. At this point I'd just like to retire and play in my garden, wherever I live. I can keep myself busy indoors with orchids and plant catalogs in the winter.
And I like the looks of all 3 of the turtles/tortoises :-) :-) :-)
gram
There you must be around Batavia. That is were my father lived. He passed about a couple of months ago at 98. What a man he was. Missing him sorely. My boys are still on the east side of Rochester in Victor and Fairport.
Hap
I'm so sorry about your Dad. 98..he must have had quite a life! We're further west Hap..almost to the Niagara River. My Dad's cousin lives in Fairport. We don't get over there, but she usually comes to visit once or twice a year. gram
Then you must be SW of Buffalo..? yes?
My dad had a wonderful life...at least I think so. My Mom died at 76, 24 years ago. He met Ruth, the same name as my mother, married her 10 months later and they were just about to celebrate 24 years of marriage. It was wonderful for Mom and it has been wonderful for both of them. The both of them truly had a blessed life. God is Good. I only wish..........
I'm with my second husband, who actually is my first because I had a Catholic/Papal Annulment for the first. He is the greatest. I'm even getting him to help me in the garden.... We are growing older together and appreciating each other more and more every day.
Keep in touch and I will give updates on the births.....
Hap
Now this is a TEXAS turtle
Happy_1, If I would have seen her in my garden I would have thought, "Ooh, a watermelon!"
WOW, Jackie....that's really Texas style.. I would fear for my little dog.
Does anyone know what this one is.I found him eating bird seed.Most of what I have seen on land here has been the Alabama map turtle.
Charlie
Jackie, just how big IS that turtle?
Here is another site for identifying turtles. I came across this site when I was trying to id one I found in my pool. it was a little snapper...had already drowned when I found it
http://www.turtlehomes.org/species/
he is an alligator snapping turtle they can get quite large..if you hold a tree branch out to them they can bite thru it....wonder what they would do to a finger..........they stand up on their clawed feet and can actually run pretty fast.....they look prehistoric and scary......this one was about 12 inches squared, the tail was about 6 inches and see the size of the dung, this was no puppy. I wish i could have snapped a picture of it standing and running
Hemental.
That is a Western Box Turtle AKA Ornate Box Turtle
This message was edited Jun 24, 2006 2:08 AM
I have been starring at my kiddo and I seem to see a square design on the very top. I think that the shriveled stuff is algae that has just grown on her.
Does anyone else see that?
I do.
Does anyone recommend cleaning the algae off of her?
Thanks Melva.I wonder how it got to MS.Happy I had read somewhere that turtle shells could be infected with Botuliam bacillus.This may have been the pet store type.
Pet store turtle get this big? Woozer. If it has the Bot. is it dangerous? Not that I plan to eat it, LOL.
You should always be careful to wash your hands after handling a turtle...it is usually Salmonella they are infected with....the dime store turtles all had the capabiity to get that large, but most of them died before they got of any size...most of them, were red eared sliders...
Thanks Melva.Salmonella was what I had in mind.Another senior moment.
I had to take this little fellow to the camera.I lost 3 others a couple days ago while fetching my camera.I have no idea how they can disappear in such a short time. Anyone know what it is.
That is a Box Turtle
Here is mine....
here is a better one..
Your "Texas" turtle actually looks more like the common snapping turtle rather than the alligator snapper. It is hard to tell but the one in your picture does not have the pronounced ridges along the top of it's shell. Alligator snappers were common in the swamps of Louisiana where I am from but sadly they are not common anymore. They taste great and have been overfished. They don't reproduce rapidly and it has really hurt the population. Many people I know who fished them will not eat them anymore as they don't want to lose them altogether. They grow to be very large and heavy. I have seen them weighing nearly 200lbs and measuring 3ft front to back. I haven't seen one of that size in many years now. The common snappers don't get anywhere near that big but they taste good too. We have a big one in our creek we have plans to harvest. It has been feasting on the baby ducks this season.
This female crawled up above the high water mark in our back yard to lay her eggs.
you may be right I didnt know there was a difference in the snappers, and yes I had heard that they lived forever and got quite large. This is not the largest I have seen here but the first time I had my camera at ready........I have never eaten the snapper, but dad used to catch softshell on his trot lines and mama battered and fried um up. We ate a lot of things off the land 50 years ago. My Dad hunted and fished for his pleasure and to supplement our table. Some of the Northern folk would probably be appalled at our diet back then.....but you know, they don't even eat okra and blackeyed peas and they think tea comes in a cup....gotta be something wrong with that!!!.....
