some closer shots... look at that face!!!!
what do I do??? I found 6 small turtle eggs in my yard ????
silly moves!
falling...
My Lilly... I gave her some TLC today ... a nice shower... and like I always tell her " You are going to smell good like a flower! needless to say her tail goes down and she runs away from me... then I just wait and she comes back... latelly I have been giving her showers instead of baths... she seems to like it better... she is a little jealous her "mommy" is too much outside and now turtles...
kassia ,
I found your thread ! the new turtle pics are so cute! and miss lilly looks beautiful! bella is in need of a bath too, any way good morning and I will talk to you soon
laura
Hi Laura,
everyone, Laura is the one that encouraged me to garden... she is the first person that gave me hostas, datura, and a baby wisteria tree... she has is one of the main contributors in what my friends call the "OCD gardener" I am a little too excited about gardening!
Laura come to visit the turtles...
Hi, Laura. Look what you've started with Kassia! she is totally addicted ! LOL
gram
kassia was a gardener waiting to happen!
laura
kassi,a don't forget that fall is the time for deviding so you should come over and put your order in
laura
see what I mean everyone... she is feeding the monster!!!!
ok... I will stop by...
Turtle update:
they are doing great... very active and they seem happy... not eating yet... but they seem to be ok... I take them outside when I have a chance so they can get some real sun light... they are learning to climb up the rocks and enjoy the sun... Today I hold each one and they didn;t seem to be afraid... they didn't hide in their carapaces and touched their little paws,,, so cute... my dog Lilly is jealouuuussss... so I took Lilly out for a ride ... she loves my car!!!
look at these faces!! I need names that would be ok for either male or female...
This message was edited Sep 6, 2006 11:51 PM
Happy turtle!!!
Turtles are great. I have a friend who takes in unwanted red ear sliders and has had success with them breeding in her yard. I have a few babies.
Jan...
Oh Jan, they are so cute... how long have you had them??? I want turtles to always come back to my yard,,, I am so in love with them...
I have never had a turtle before so I have no idea what to do... and I could keep 2... but my heart would be way to divided choosing which ones to keep. But I was looking at how big they can be and I think it would be better if they go to water behind the house... Maybe they would come and play in the back yard with me!!!!
It's a long story but I overwintered the babies in a 20 gal aquarium and when it warmed up around March, I moved them to a kiddie wading pool in the yard. Around May, I went to take them out to give the pool and extra good cleaning and they were gone. All 5. I called the friend I got them from and she said they it was likely that either a possum or raccoon got them as they will wade in shallow water. I was so upset at their demise that I had her take back the 3 adults I also had for fear something would happen to them. Well, last week after a particularly hard rain, I went out in the yard to upright some potted plants that had blown over and what is wandering through a puddle but one of the babies. Well, I put it back in the wading pool temporarily. The next day I went out to the ex dog kennel (topless over 1/2) where I kept the pool and 2 prefab pools and there is another one. LOL
Well, I put the 2 babies in the small of the 2 deep prefabs and happened to mention it to my neighbors. One of them said they found a baby a couple weeks prior and didn't know what to do with it so they took it to the guys across the street that had land tortoises. So I went over and reclaimed him. He didn't really want it and had put it in one of his koi ponds. So now I have 3 of 5 back. It seems they must have escaped by climbing on top of the water lettuce and going overboard. They're just all lucky they landed right side up! Anyway, you will love your turtles if you keep them.
Jan...
Great thread. I know virtually nothing about turtles. How are they living if they don't eat yet? I wondered what you were feeding them. Karen
Kassia,
I just found this thread.
Congrats on your baby turtles.
Someone might have mentioned this on your thread, I just sorta skimmed through postings. If I am repeating info, so sorry.
A good thing to remember about raising turtle eggs:
when finding the eggs from a nest, always place the eggs in the same position they were found in. If possible, mark the eggs when digging them, mark what side was on the earth and what side was facing up. If the eggs are turned while the babies are still inside, that is will cause the yolk to become detached. This is most likely what happened to the one that died.
As a young girl, my dad taught me how to hatch out turtles, I am passing this on to my little girl as well.
Oh Jan, I can just imagine your distress... last night in my bible study I got the lap top to show my friends your tutles... they all loved it... so gorgeous... how old are they now???
Well, Karen, according to Pete (the guy from the MA Wildlife) they have a "reserve" from the egg. He told me that the ones he is has are 4 weeks old and started eating this week, so it's normal... I feel sorry... I love to eat...
Hi, JustmeLisa, thanks, I had no idea... I am taking notes and doing a diary so if I run into more eggs I know what to do... I hope I find more turtle eggs... they are so cute!
you know guys, I never guessed that by taking on gardening I would run into turtles... I will never forget how scared I was when I was "diggin" and found them... and I think it is a miracle how even one of them survived.!.. you have no idea how many times I moved the poor eggs from place to place... I left them out, them I felt guilty and brought them inside my garage... I think God had mercy on me and helped these poor little things to survive... He knows how sad I would be if they didn't make it...
This is what I "needed" to happen to me this summer... I was so stressed out because of Nursing school. I had the maternity rotation this summer and I was deadly afraid of even holding a newborn... ( my fear was that as I had to give the baby the first bath using gloves he/she would just fall.... well he didn't) then I also wanted nothing to do with screaming women, and I was not comfortable looking at someone having a normal delivery... Well, neddless to say, I was the only only among 8 students that participated on a delivery - which was so increadible, and to my surprise, I was a "natural" and helped out, and felt like I knew what to do... anyway, then I found turtle eggs... then I saw 3 hatching and caught it on camera... now I have 5 baby turtles! I sent my maternity clinical instructor an email and told her that the maternity experience was not just for human babies!!!! now I have seen more "births"...
Neddless to say I am in love with these turtles... I am dying to name them... but I can't tell them apart... I keep looking for markings etc... but I am either blind (well I am getting old anyway and at 44 I need reading glasses!) or I don't know what to look for... I picked each one up yesterday and "shook hands with each one"... I may be hallucinating but I don't think they are afraid of me... each one just stayed on my hand, and kept looking at me moving their little heads... I was touched... I woke up today and went to say good morning and one of them was already awake and walking around... all the other 4 were sleeping and one had both paws like covering her eyes... so cute...
As I type I can see them on my window ... I opened the curtain so they are all awake and walking around... fianlly today will be a good day and I am going to put the box outside so they can get some sun... I do that when I came home from work and they seem to like it...
I am getting a better camera so I can take better pictures... feel free to look at my blog for more pictures... I will keep updating the thread as they grow... This site is really cool!
Kassia,
We are the same age :)
I am very good friends with a herpetologist (one who studies reptiles). I will ask him if he can give me any info on your painted turtles on how to sex them. He helped me determine the sex of my 2 box turtles. He is a wealth of info and is very much respected in the reptile world. I don't know when I'll see him again, but most likely this week. I'll be sure to ask him.
Your turtles will indeed know you. My box turtles come to me when they hear my voice. *Chuckle* my husband calls me the "turtle whisperer"
I always killed flies and small bugs for my slider turtles. If you flip them over on their tummies there is a small line that runs down the middle, from front to back. In the middle of this line you will see a small amout of fleshy looking thing (the only way I know how to describe it) This is what will nurish your baby turtle for a while. As long as it has that, it will not need to eat food. Also, if you look close at his/her mouth, you will see, there in the point of the mouth a tiny little white spot. This is the egg tooth. This tooth is what helps the little guys break out the egg. It will soon fall off.
Good luck with your babies!
you are so right.... of course,,, I see the tooth and the fleshy thing,,, good to know!!!! thnaks so much!!!!
This is soooo neat to learn. Now I am glad they are not starving to death! Karen (nurse for over 30 years--OB made me a little nervous at first, too)
oh, Karen, I love nurses!!!!!
My sister Christina is also worried about them not eating... she is so funny... she said that in this house everyone eats... she wants to give them lettuce...
I am really having fun learning about turtles... how come I never had one before....
I have a question. If they lay their eggs in the garden, why do you have to bring them inside to have them make it?
I mean, I would bring them in too, cause I think it would be very very neat to have them. But can't they survive without us rescueing them? How do they survive away from people that don't bring them in?
We have a lot of leopard frogs this year, I am very excited about that and I found a cute little tree frog in a hanging basket today.
I haven't found any turtle eggs anywhere though or seen baby turtles.
I want some baby turtles too. LOL
Susan
=^..^=
Hi Susan,
if I am qutoting the guy from MA wildlife correctly, turtles have a high mortality rate (that's why they live for so long?) and once the eggs start hatching, the smell gives away their location and predators come ... by having so many eggs together and hacthing few days apart, they would all go for the water together and sometimes one or 2 would make it... the rest would just become a bigger animal dinner... In my case, he said it would been hard for them to survive because there was a ant farm basically 1 foot close and the ants would go to eat the yolk and the turtles would just die...
wht I found out is that turtles lay their eggs on the solstice of summer... and that's when we can see them laying eggs... I will be on the watch... do you have water close by? like a shallow lake or pond?
Yes, we have a small pond. But also three dogs who 'patrol' the area and are crazy for frogs. LOL
I can just imagine if they found turtles. They get so excited when DH goes to mow around the pond. They start barking and jumping up and down before he even gets back there. He just has to get the mower out and they are ready. It stirs up the frogs around the edge and they can catch them. It makes me ill and I used to try to save them all but that is just impossible.
We have a few bull frogs too which I love to listen to at night. I am listening to frogs right now as my computer room window opens out to the pond. It is very soothing.
I think the turtles are so very cute except the snapping turtle types which we DON'T want in the pond. They don't smell real good either. We have had them before. I have koi and goldfish in the pond and they would try to eat those.
Susan
=^..^=
Here is a picture of the little frog I found today in the hanging basket.
I need to get out my book and see what he is...
Susan
=^..^=
cute little guy, Susan. interesting color
gram
he is so cute.... I love his face....
well, check with someone from a wildlife depto or something for the areas where painted turtles are and also when they would be laying their eggs. someone told me is the solstice of summer (which this year I was doing my maternity rotation and 20 babies were born that day at Mount Auburn Hospital and I assisted in 1 normal delivery!!!! so turtles and babies were born the same day!!!! can you imagine how much activity!!!!)
I am going to ask Pete what do I have to do to really see if they will come back to my yard... I hope I get to watch... I found a site with pretty cool pictures
http://gallery.cs.umb.edu/gallery/painted
and look at this picture... I hope mine are not that big...
I really enjoyed reading this thread and seeing all the pictures. Why do we love turtles? We just do.
I am not so sure why... I think I should be a little like them... go slow and steady... when I think that they live long lives it makes me think that maybe they handle stress better???
I love these lillte guys,,, 2 of them are going to a school for special kids... Laura's son goes there and I am excited that they will have a chance to see the turtles grow... I hope they keep them as pets for the kids... Laura is very involved in the school and I don't think that it will be a problem with the MA Wildlife Soc. about doing this... they will care for the turtles... and it's neat because I can go and visit!!!!
This message was edited Sep 10, 2006 10:26 PM
That is really neat!
Turtle update:
All turtles are doing great... they are eating and having fun... they all come when I go close to the aquarium... yeah, they know the hand that feeds them...
I have posted new pictures on my blog ... I will post some here tonight!
Yah!!! new pictures...can't wait...
Susan
=^..^=
here they are...
Ohhhh, they are so cute and sweet. What a nice set up you have for them. I bet they are happier there than outside. LOL
Susan
=^..^=
I bet so, too. They are pretty cute! Keep up the good work. Loved the pictures of them. Karen
Thanks Karen and Susan... I keep trying to figure out what to name them... I can tell 2 of them apart, but keep trying to see if they are male or female... I can't do that yet... the other thing is that I am still trying to have a lamp so they can bask in the heat... I have read some stuff online but I am not so sure what to do... for now they are on my bedroom window and they get several hours of sun light but I heard that the glass doesn't let UV rays in and that's what they need... I am afraid of setting up the warming lamp I got because it says in the box not to do it over water... so my dilema continues... another thing is that they also need some other vitD3 form... oh well, I need a Turtle specialist...
they are so goofy... they all come when I get close to the aquarium (all 5 rush in...) you would never think turtles can be that fast... in the morning they don't seem to be scared of my hand... I feed them on a separate container so they don't mess up their water so much... they don't seem to mind... it's flying turtle time... when they are full they all start climbling on the side (I think the water gets cooler....) so I just move them back and I usually play with them and leave my hand on the water and they come and touch my hand, and go on my fingers so I hold them a little and that's 10 minutes of playtime... they don't run away at this time... but at night is another story... once I turn the lights on when I get home and come closes they run and hide... so I stay and talk with them and they come back slowly ... my sister and nephews come to see them first thing after
they arrive home... and they are having a great time... it will be hard to give up 2... the worse is that now my best friend also wants 2 and I only have 5... my family is all into building a pond with a fence around so they can be outside for the summer and this and that... oh well, maybe I just should make my back yard a turtle shelter... lol...
my blog has some new pictures http://ninoandlilly.blogspot.com/
This is a great story. (and pix!) Thanks for being such a good parent!