What about the turtles?

We have had some fun things happening around here in 2017! A couple of weeks ago we posted about our blue tongue skinks that finally had their first successful matings earlier in the year and we are still hopeful that those girls are pregnant.

Today I want to update you on our common musk turtle breeding program. We have been working with these 6 (1 male, 5 females) turtles for 2 breeding seasons now and are thrilled to announce that we have eggs!

The first three eggs were laid 59 days ago, on May 17. At our incubation temperatures we could see little turtle hatchlings as early as this next week! The eggs were improperly calcified causing the shell to be of varying thicknesses so it was impossible to know if the dark "calcium ring" appeared on these first three eggs. We aren't sure if these first eggs are fertile, but we always incubate if there is any chance of fertility. If the eggs are fertile they will have a dark white spot in the middle. You can easily see this spot on eggs 5, 6, and 7!

Eggs 4 - 7 were just laid on July 8. 3 are definitely fertile and if our incubation process is effective, we should see hatchlings in mid September.

I thought this might be a great time to also show you our home made egg incubator. 

It has been running for 2 months now and it's working perfectly. 

We used a mid sized plastic bin with sealing lid, a small plastic bin with a lid, aquatic pond soil (our substrate), 2 bricks, a fully submersible (and temperature adjustable) aquarium heater, sturdy mesh, substrate thermometer, and our trusty temperature gun.

First, we prepped the smaller tub, adding moistened aquatic pond soil, the sturdy mesh, and the eggs. 

Then the bricks and heater go in the bottom of the bigger tub. We filled the water right to the top of the bricks and placed the smaller tub on top of the bricks. 

The smaller tub now gets placed on top of the bricks. Pop in the substrate thermometer and we were ready to start closing it up.

The lid for the smaller tub is placed on top at an angle, balancing on the sturdy mesh
This is to keep humidity near the eggs, but to prevent water from dripping directly onto them.

Close the outer bin's lid tight... 

Check the temperature... 

Double check the temperature with a temp gun and the incubator is good to go.