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Looks like last year wasn't a fluke. I decided that I should dig around in the nesting box today just in case. I'm not sure exactly when they laid eggs, but I got 9 so far. If I didn't drown them while waiting, they should hatch middle to end of July. Now the long wait. I'm assuming they are from the albino male x regular female, but the males were paying attention to my albino female earlier this spring. I just don't think she's big enough to lay 9 eggs. Trying a new hatching media this year, so hopefully we'll get all the kinks worked out before I start getting albino babies. I should have some of last year's hatch available this summer if anyone is interested. They will all be carrying the albino gene. Denny

Great news.

See. All you had to do was call to get things started. Denny

Neat! Hope they all hatch for you.

I'd be interested 2 or 3. they sure are cute when they're babies

Then I will be calling you more often this summer! Will be a pins and needles summer for me waiting to see if this is the year. Thanks for the post. Jack

Had my second clutch of RES turtle eggs today. Ended up with 12 eggs. Gail thought she interrupted one of the females last night, so I checked this morning and found the 12 eggs. This batch I know should hatch in 60-70 days. I'm going to have to start thinking about getting more red worms later this summer.

It's hard to be patient when dealing with turtles or turtle eggs. I think last year the eggs hatched in 60 plus days, but they were down in the fish room which was warmer last year than it's been this year. Right now I'm at around 70 days for the first batch and 60 days for the second batch, and so far no new turtles. I would expect that if it was cooler, but that doesn't make the waiting any easier. Then the batch which potentially could be albinos is due to hatch in another 10 days (probably longer).

I just today decided that I should heat the eggs, and have them sitting at around 82 degrees so far using a reptile heater with no adjustments. I'd like to get up to 85, but we'll see what happens with these before I try any more adjustments.

Denny

Any updates on the kids?

Well, the first one to hatch is swimming around now. As of this morning, 3 others have broken the shells, but no one is completely out yet. There are several eggs that I'm pretty sure won't be hatching, and several more that I think will. It wouldn't surprise me if the eggs in the second batch also started to hatch this week. It's the third batch I'm really waiting for though. They should hatch in 2-3 weeks. Denny

We ended up with 9 hatchlings from the 4th batch, and when we got home tonight, we found 3 hatchlings and 3 starting to break through the shells on the fifth batch. That will mean a total of around 24 turtles for the year. Now to figure out where we're going to put them all. Denny

That's a lot of turtles! Hope you can find space or find homes for them. Jack