But it made my day to dig around in the pail and come up with ten little baby Painted Turtles! This was the middle of October, by the way. My son, who'd been working as an interpreter at Manitoba's Grand Beach Provincial Park, located on the east side of Lake Winnipeg, had been given some turtle eggs by some other park workers. They had accidentally dug them up in July while doing some maintenance work. The location wasn't a great spot to rebury them, a parking lot mother turtles don't always make the best choices for nesting sites , so they had collected the eggs and turned them over to my son thinking he'd know what to do with them.
And he did, he called his dad, me, for advice. I've always had a great passion for turtles and had reared eggs and hatchlings before. It was only a couple of years ago when I helped rescue a clutch of Snapping Turtle eggs from a trail at a condo development along Winnipeg's Red River. Now, I'm always concerned when I hear of people digging up turtle nests, accidentally or intentionally, then trying to rebury them elsewhere or keep them in a pail even though that's what we did.
Turtle eggs can be damaged by being moved or even rotated from the position in which they were laid. So I worry that well-intentioned nest "rescuers" may end up causing a clutch of eggs to fail.
It's always best to leave turtle nests alone and let nature take its course. Mind you, the usual fate of most turtle nests is to be dug up and the eggs eaten by raccoons, skunks, foxes or other hungry predators. However, as the fates would have it, my family ended up being entrusted with a pail full of turtle eggs.
I figured, "what the heck, let's see what happens", so I set the pail on top of our upright freezer, where it would be warmed by the heat given off. I use this location to increase germination of seeds, too.
Every couple of days I'd add a bit of water to keep the sand moist. By the time mid-September had rolled around though, I was getting concerned that we wouldn't see any turtles. Snapping Turtles live in aquatic habitats, but it is very common to spot these animals on the land or crossing roads as they very often migrate from one water area to another.
They can lay hundreds of eggs in a nesting season—thousands in a lifetime! Among species, scientists have determined that turtles lay their eggs in the same time and place but not necessarily returning year after year. Three low keels or ridges on the carapace of younger turtles often become obscure as the turtle matures. A healthy and happy turtle should have clear eyes with no discharge. They should also not show any signs of difficulty breathing. Another very common sign is mouth breathing or straining to breathe.
Male painted turtles reach maturity when their plastron is between 70 and 95 millimeters in length. This is generally between 3 and 5 years of age.
Female painted turtles reach maturity when their plastron is between and millimeters in length. Females mature between 6 and 10 years of age. Common map turtle. Map turtle occurrence map. Common musk turtle. Painted turtle. Painted turtle occurrence map. The female painted turtle covers the eggs with dirt and returns to the water, her job done. The eggs hatch in 72 days, usually in late August through early September.
The baby turtles instinctively head straight for the water. Late hatchers may stay in the nest until spring. The sex of the hatchlings is determined by nest temperature.
Young turtles will be males if temperatures are cool, females if temperatures are warm. Nests are often discovered by birds, racoons and skunks, who make a meal of the eggs. Newly hatched turtles, about the size of a quarter, are easy prey for birds, foxes, raccoons, skunks, snakes and large fish. It's not unusual for 90 percent of painted turtle eggs and babies to be lost to predators. Predators don't normally bother adult turtles, but it's possible for them to lose limbs if they're attacked by predators on land.
As the young turtle grows he sheds the outer layer of bony plates on his shell, growing larger plates underneath. Males reach maturity when they're 2 to 5 years old; females are mature at 4 to 8 years old.
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