Baby Turtles (same as in 'Water Turtles' subforum)

[Berkeley]

Who doesn't like baby turtles? They are one of the cutest things on the earth.

I remember the very first one I hatched, an eastern mud turtle. Back when I was about 11 years old, the pair that I had at the time surprised me with a few eggs. I was not expecting to get eggs at all; in fact, I had not even been trying to breed them. But there they were- one morning I went downstairs to turn on the room lights before I went to school and found three mini-marshmallow sized eggs drifting along in the bottom of their aquarium. I pulled them out, half buried them in some wet sand and covered them with a towel. I then put one of the snake cage lights right over the container they were in and dutifully turned it on and off every morning and night for weeks. It finally paid off when I removed the towel one day and saw a tiny little head poking out of one of the eggs. The little guy emerged, and a second one several days after that. This was long before I even thought about keeping notes, so, sadly, I have no data on what time of the year this was, what the temps I incubated at were, how long the eggs incubated, and so on. I just have the memories!

But enough waxing poetic, here are some pictures of a few other species of turtles and tortoises I have hatched out over the years since then. I never get tired of seeing those little faces.

(forgive the quality of some of the pictures, many were before I really took the time to learn how to take photos, and some I was just plain ol' jittery because I was so excited)

Gulf Coast Spiny Softshells
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Redfoot Tortoises. I got my first redfoots in 2004 and built a group of them over the years. The adults started laying for me this last year.
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Common Snapping Turtle. I'm particularly proud of this group because I salvaged 49 eggs from a road killed female and 46 of them hatched. All of the babies were released at the site where the mother was from.
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Southeast Asian Box Turtle
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Diamondback Terrapins
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Asian Brown Tortoise
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Beal's Eyed Turtle
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Common Musk Turtles
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Redeared SlidersView attachment 184225

Yellowbellied Sliders
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If you are still with me, thanks for looking. I hope you enjoyed.
--Berkeley

 

[Berkeley]

Hmmm. Not sure why the pics are not showing up here. Feel free to check out the post in the 'WaterTurtles' section if you don't want to click on the 'view attachment' links.

--Berkeley

 

[MichaelaW]

Impressive! Love the Manouria. I can't wait until my four reproduce!

 

[Berkeley]

Thanks! Yep, it's a good feeling!
--Berkeley

 

[PJay]

Happy birthday Berkeley!

 

[tortoise5643]

Awesome selection you have hatched! What did you do with the common snappers?

 

[Berkeley]

Happy birthday Berkeley!

Thanks PJay!

Awesome selection you have hatched! What did you do with the common snappers?

Thanks tortoise5643. The snappers were released back where the mom had been found.

--Berkeley