Turtle Eggs... now what...

[Mike D]

well a few weeks ago my girlfriend and I were fishing and we caught a turtle that was swimming towards us, it was caught a little to easy and upon firther inspection we saw that she had a bad head wound and was missing an eye. we felt bad so we took her home and set her up in an empty tank and cared for the wounds.

fast forward a few weeks.....

is there anyway to tell if these are viable and will hatch if cared for? right now i have them on a mix of vermiculite and perlite in a plastic tub with a few small holes poked in the top and im keeping them at 78-80* as i do not have an incubator. will this work or is an incubator absolutely nessasary?

 

[Vicious_Fish]

What kind of turtle? That might work out, it's been a while since I've incubated turtle eggs. Just be warned that turtle eggs are usually trickier to hatch than lizard or snake eggs. You can see if they're any good by candling them with a flashlight. With in a week after being laid you should start to see red veins running through the egg when held up to a light. The egg with also have a pinkish hue if fertilized and candled.

 

[Mike D]

they are painted turtle eggs. also the count is now up to 8. she laid a few more since posting this

 

[Water]

This looks interesting. Could you post pics of the mom?

 

[Mike D]

i will try and post a few pics of her tonight when i get home

 

[Mike D]

here is a pic of the mom the day i got her home.

 

[tanglovers]

Where did she lay them? In the water? Also did you rotate them at all when putting them in the vermiculite? Turtle eggs can not be rotated at all or they will not hatch. I have not done patined turtles in years but did long ago, bred out and hatched nearly 125 of them.

 

[Mike D]

2 were in the water but not long. others were on the top of the rock. not ideal i know but she is still in a temp setup and its all i had. right now i am just keeping them at a steady temp and hoping for the best.

i did not rotate them at all. i had alwayss read that when dealing with herp eggs to not rotate. its one of those things where if they hatch great. and if they dont oh well. i plan on hatching and releasing where the mom was caught or gifting to friends with ponds.

 

[mshill90]

Do not release the hatchlings. That is extremely illegal.

If you wanted, contact your fish and game, and ask if there are any sanctuaries where they can be placed.