Baby Box turtles Saved!

I don't remember posting anything about this story to date, so here is the story from start to finish. About 9 weeks ago, I was getting ready to burn a large pile of brush that I had cleared from our property. I had some newspaper stuffed into one side, to help start the fire. As I was bending down to light the fire, lighter in hand, I spotted a 3 toed box turtle laying eggs right next to the brush pile. Well, we let her finish laying her eggs, and prior to her covering up the hole, I grabbed her and let her go in the woods next to the fire. We then proceeded to fish the eggs out of the nest and set them up in a box on some perlite and vermiculite. We incubated the eggs for about nine weeks, and were rewarded with 4 cute little box turtles.

I know very little about turtles, but have always enjoyed finding them in the wild, and have been doing some heavy reading on how to take care of these guys. I think we are going to keep them inside through this winter, and will probably build them a pen outside next spring.

Here are the pics:
First up is the first turtle to emerge from the egg. You can see the other three have pipped, but are still sitting in their temporary homes.
http://www.baileyreptiles.com/pics/babybox.jpg

The next picture is all of the babies in their new home after hatching. None of them have started to eat yet, but they do have a little yolk still to absorb, so hopefully soon, they will start eating on their own.
http://www.baileyreptiles.com/pics/4babybox.jpg

I hope you enjoy the pics as much as I am enjoying the babies,

those little guys are cute glad I was there when they hatched

too cute! i had a baby mississippi map turtle that my dad found but we couldn't get him to eat so he didn't make it. but i'm sure with a little research you'll have the best of luck with these little guys!

Awww how cute! Fingers crossed that they do well for you guys. I'm sure they'll receive the best of care and end up happy and ready for release come spring.

Thanks for the comments. Hopefully I can post some pics of these guys as they grow.

That's so cool, Tim!! I'm glad you spotted the mamma before lighting that fire!! I hope the babies eat and thrive and have a wonderful life for the time they are in your care!

What adorable babies! Congrats, box turtles are great pets we have had one for over a year now and she is just full of personality (for a turtle).

Thanks for sharing that Tim, nice save too :gj: I'm jealous you have wild herps laying eggs on your property, I have to go well out of my way to find any herps around here.

-Evan

A wonderful story to hear. I am sure that through your readings that you know to get a UVA and UVB emitting flourescent strip onto them. It'll ensure proper feeding behavior and growth :sweeet: .

I just wanted to give an update. All the babies are now eating and doing good. They are so cute and so funny watching them trying to swollow those meal worms.