On Tuesday, I took the dogs out as usual in the morning, and right at their favorite rock-to-pee-on was this HUGE turtle! I pulled them away - they didn't seem to notice it, nor it them, but I freaked out a little bit. I went back to the house and called Ben to come see (Ty was at a friend's) and he came out and agreed with my take on it -- it was a female laying eggs. He went back inside and verified online that yes, this is a snapping turtle, and June is the prime time for egg-laying. She seemed to be in a bit of a trance, not noticing us at all. We watched her for a while, then went inside, and when we came back out about an hour later she was gone and the egg hole was neatly filled in.According to the website Ben looked at, hatching can occur anywhere from 9 - 18 weeks from now ... that's quite a window, but we will be watching for signs.
I was amazed at how far away from the pond she was (almost 2 blocks in a residential area) and how quickly the whole thing went - I mean, I don't know when she started digging the hole, but if I had gone a different direction that morning for the walk, we never would have known.
We have been trying to get the dogs to pee there now to keep raccoons and foxes from finding the eggs. Don't know if that will actually work, but we thought it sounded good. If we do see baby turtles I will get photos!!!
4 comments:
Must be that time of year.. and as Ben looked up, it is.. There has been a rash remarks of turtles laying eggs. Please keep us up to date..
How interesting that it was the very same day I saw the three turtles laying eggs. Do you think it was a designated egg-laying day for them or something?
I admit to moving the dirt around a bit to see if I could see any eggs. I didn't. I didn't want to disturb them more so I stopped.
Isn't it strange how far they lay from the water? Those poor, tiny baby turtle will have a long, long way to go.
Oops--so now I see it was two days later that I saw my turtles. So much for the designated egg-laying day.
so... you do realize that a snapper can take off your toe (or your dog's) and will eat any fish, duck, loon, and/or gosling it can get it's jaw around, right?
Having had a few run ins with snappers up north, I'm no fan...I much prefer loons! :-)
Post a Comment