Gravid Turtle

[ferretinmyshoes]

This is Lucy, my newest rescue addition! Someone found her crawling by the road and at first thought she was an Indian star tortoise, not realizing ornate box turtles are native around here. Had to drive an hour to get her but worth it! She is very sweet. She has some scars on her shell where some kind of predator tried to get through, but not too bad.

The person who found her said she dropped an egg in her box. So I suspected there were more still waiting. I was right!

 

[Miss Lily]

Awwww, she's beautiful!

 

[AngieL]

Mama turtles always make me think of this pic

She is beautiful. Are you going to try and hatch the eggs?

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Thanks! And yes I'll incubate them. Turtle hatchlings are too adorable! Who knows if they're even fertile but we'll see.

 

[djfishygillz]

Mama turtles always make me think of this pic View attachment 82962

She is beautiful. Are you going to try and hatch the eggs?

hahahahaha that was way to funny

 

[laurie]

I always enjoy the tiny turtles at shows. I can just imagine how much cuter a new born hatchling would be. Could you please post pictures if they do hatch? Good luck.

 

[little leaf]

what a sweet face glad you got her , did you know she was gravid, or did you just do the X ray as standard for your new critters ?

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

I always enjoy the tiny turtles at shows. I can just imagine how much cuter a new born hatchling would be. Could you please post pictures if they do hatch? Good luck.

Oh for sure!

what a sweet face glad you got her , did you know she was gravid, or did you just do the X ray as standard for your new critters ?

She dropped an egg with the person who found her without digging a hole, which I suspect was due to stress. My other boxies always lay at least 3 eggs so I wanted to see if she had more or if the one was a straggler from her last clutch before she was found. Easy way to check! I'll be watching closely for her to start digging!

 

[little leaf]

I can not wait to see the pics of the babies - I am already looking forward to them i just love all the animals you have

 

[melmelion]

ohhh so cute
cant wait to see them! i always loved turtles

 

[JimO]

I love box turtles. As a kid we always kept one or two inside our large fenced-in backyard as "yard pets". I once found one in our garden eating a tomato - oops . We liked putting veggies outside our sun room window so we could watch them eat. I also had a gopher tortoise back there. My Dad wasn't real happy with the size of his burrow, but my parents were pretty tolerable with my herp hobby. That was many years ago, of course, because gopher tortoises are now protected and cannot be disturbed.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Thanks all! Love your story Jim! We had the "turtle patch" which was a secure large area for all the box turtles when I was a kid growing up. We still have some of those turtles today. I can't wait until we move to a house with a yard next year because I can't wait to have a big outdoor area for the turtles and tortoises again. I shop for houses specifically with backyard turtle options in mind. I feel so guilty keeping turtles indoors even with good caging and lighting and everything. They have grass and plants in their boxes to make it as naturalistic as possible but turtles need to be outside. The balcony housing is good for now...

 

[ataraxia]

Good luck with them eggs! Neat turtle.

 

[Olimpia]

She's so cute! And I can't believe the size of those eggs, I've always thought all turtles/tortoises laid many small eggs and not just a handful of large ones. I've worked professionally with turtles and tortoises for years, but I have to admit that I've never experienced them breed so I don't know very much about that aspect of their lives. I'm always tempted to get into owning a tortoise, though lol They're so cute!

 

[pigglett79]

She is cute, hopefully the eggs are fertile that would be so fun.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

And I can't believe the size of those eggs, I've always thought all turtles/tortoises laid many small eggs and not just a handful of large ones.

It depends on the species! Box turtles usually lay clutches average of 3-5 eggs. But water turtles often lay many more more than that. Star tortoises lay average of 2 eggs per clutch, but sulcatas can be in the 20-40 range. And then many species of sea turtles lay many dozens - green sea turtles average over 100 and can go up to 200. They're all over the place!

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

And they're out!

Their color isn't promising for being fertile...since her history is a mystery who knows whether or not she was with a male. I'll incubate them just in case though. I hope they're fertile!

 

[Seiryu]

Good luck with the eggs if they're fertile!