Size matters...with turtles!

[john70t]

Originally Posted by Jolly Amaranto

You learn real fast to hold them with their head toward you, tail away and way out at arms length or they will pee on you.

I saved a small snapper away from water and got that on the clothes and car.
It was pretty bad. As in really really bad.

[KFC911]

Be careful wif them snappers... their head can extend to the back of their shell...fingers are tasty .

Saw one casually swimming across the surface of one of my ponds with his head and tail fully extended....had to be 5' or so from tip to tip. Me no like snappers ....sliders are totally cool

[Racerbvd]

Saw this guy today.

[stevej37]

^^^ Looks like a yellow-bellied slider to me.
No red marking by the ear. Looks healthy.

[KFC911]

I've never seen a red slider....but I sure recognize that one

[Racerbvd]

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/53-year-old-tortoise-needs-home-after-owner-dies-of-coronavirus/2128549/

[john70t]

Originally Posted by KC911

Be careful wif them snappers... their head can extend to the back of their shell...fingers are tasty .

Memories from young summer camp:
One of the stout councilors holding a big snapper up with all his might. Two hands on the tail which was as big as a baseball bat. It was probably only about 3 feet or so in reality, but daym that hissing head was the size of a dog's.
The softshells were the ones with the lightening-quick snake necks. Even holding them by the back was no guarantee.

[stevej37]

^^^
Never trust a snapper!
On the other hand...Sliders are like puppy dogs!



Here are a couple of the eggs that the largest slider laid last year. They never hatched.

[Jolly Amaranto]

May be your male turtles are defective.....or do you even have any in your pond?

[stevej37]

Originally Posted by Jolly Amaranto

May be your male turtles are defective.....or do you even have any in your pond?

I'm sure I have at least one male in the pond. The carpace on that one is larger than the others and the toes/fingernails on the front legs are longer than the other turtles.

I brought the sand box with the laid eggs inside and kept it to the correct temp with a heat lamp. The only thing I didn't do...and I think it was the mistake, I needed to keep the sand moist (as the ground would if they were laid naturally)
After giving them twice the normal time to hatch...I gave up and cracked one of them open and there was a dried-up skeletal remains of a young turtle.
So..I'm sure they were fertilized.

[stevej37]

The sliders are not native to my area....so it's tough to mimic their natural habitat.