Turtle eggs! - now babies!

[ferretinmyshoes]

Emmy is one of my favorite ornate box turtles. I bred her last summer and chose not to hibernate her this winter since she had a bout of bad respiratory illness when she woke up from hibernation last year. Well since she's been under nice warm summer temps in her indoor setup she's ready to lay eggs! Usually they lay in June or July. She was tearing up her bin a few days ago which is unusual for her, which is prompted me to take the X-ray. Super excited!

 

[kinyonga]

Good luck!

 

[Decadancin]

Best of luck!!!

 

[jpowell86]

That's exciting!!

 

[FlChamMom]

So cool! Baby box turtles are the cutest!!!

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

So Emmy didn't make it easy...she didn't lay her eggs on her own so I had to induce egg laying medically. She laid two eggs almost immediately but there were still two more. Well one ended up getting stuck and started getting even bigger! Despite several attempts at medical induction she made no progress.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Since it was well and truly stuck she ended up needing endoscopy to go in and break the egg so it would collapse and be small enough that she could pass it. This is her getting scoped under sedation. I'll try to post the video. But she passed it waking up from sedation! She laid the last egg on her own a few days later but one of the girls took a bite out of it before I found it. -_- But two good eggs in the incubator looking great so far!

 

[Lathis]

Poor little Emmy. Is she going to be okay?

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Poor little Emmy. Is she going to be okay?

She's doing great! She's eating and active and pushing the other girls around when she wants to sit where they are. She should be just fine.

 

[kinyonga]

Nice going! Hope you soon have two cute babies...or rather Emma does!

 

[kinyonga]

Nice going! Hope you soon have two cute babies...or rather Emma does!

 

[FlChamMom]

So glad Emmy is doing well. Looking forward to the two eggs hatching!!

 

[Decadancin]

Glad she made it through OK.

 

[Scout]

Yay Emmy!
What a little hero.
Can't wait for the babies!

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

The two eggs are coming along! One of the embryos wiggled inside the egg when I candeled it this evening!

Pink arrow is blood vessels that have grown inside the egg. Green arrow is the embryo, red arrow is the eye spot.

 

[jpowell86]

I'm so glad that you got two viable eggs and I'm glad that Emmy is well. Great thread!

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Now turtle BABIES! Okay, just one baby so far but still adorable!!

 

[Decadancin]

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!! I can't see them. Oh the horror .

 

[Lathis]

OMG you promised turtle babies, but all I see are broken image links!!! :O

 

[Decadancin]

Wait, now I see one. OK, I'm better now. Too cute!