Baby Turtles!

It's baby season!

All but two of these little guys are yellow belly sliders! The other two are river cooters.

I love how unique each pattern is. They're so vibrant and amazing.

Sadly, along with some successes, there are also failures. A few of those precious babies suffered from a fungal infection that wasn't caught fast enough to save them all. They all have since received treatment and the majority are doing great now.

Another failure is this.

Nests that never had a chance. While out doing some recon work at a local pond we encountered 8-9 water turtle nests that had been dug up and consumed by predators. Predation is a big issue facing turtles, especially before they hatch and as tiny babies. You can see the remains of egg shells around the edges of this disturbed nest.

Let's end on a hopeful note though! A few of our box turtles in their sanctuary have dug nests and laid eggs! Half of them we dig up and put in our indoor incubator, while the other half we leave buried and put protective mesh and stakes over, even though they're behind electric fencing, just to be safe! We will watch and monitor for more eggs and in 60-90 days we will hopefully have even more babies!

A note: Ocean Eyes, Dave's foster, has laid 2 eggs! We've added them to our incubator after she laid them in her water bowl and are hoping for more! Sometimes if a turtle can't find a suitable place to dig a nest, they're just lay a few eggs where they are. Ocean Eyes does have access to a large area with gravel, dirt, mulch and plenty of shallow water if she does decide to dig a nest and lay a few more.