{"id":7071,"date":"2010-08-13T20:45:48","date_gmt":"2010-08-14T01:45:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=7071"},"modified":"2010-11-14T13:52:05","modified_gmt":"2010-11-14T18:52:05","slug":"rescued-eastern-box-turtle-hatchlings-emerge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=7071","title":{"rendered":"Rescued Eastern Box Turtle Hatchlings Emerge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"First<\/a><\/p>\n

Pipped Eastern Box Turtle Hatchling<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This afternoon\u00c2\u00a0we checked a rescued Eastern Box Turtle nest relocated on June 1st to Turtle Journal headquarters.\u00c2\u00a0 Tom Richardson and his family spotted a female Eastern Box Turtle laying a nest at the edge of the Route 6 highway in Mattapoisett, across\u00c2\u00a0the street from the Old Rochester Regional High School.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Tom alerted Don Lewis who excavated seven eggs and transplanted the nest into a protected sanctuary at Turtle Journal.<\/p>\n

\"first<\/a><\/p>\n

Rescued Eastern Box Turtle Nest<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

At the 60-day incubation mark, we had checked the eggs which appeared plump and developing nicely.\u00c2\u00a0 We probed the nest again today and found two\u00c2\u00a0hatchlings that had pipped with forelimbs poking through the eggshells.\u00c2\u00a0 The pipped eggs are top left in the picture and direct center.\u00c2\u00a0 The egg on the\u00c2\u00a0middle right did not develop and was removed to avoid insect depredation as the other eggs pip.<\/p>\n

\"first<\/a><\/p>\n

Don Lewis Examines Pipping\u00c2\u00a0EBT Hatchling<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

To our eyes there’s something beautiful and strange about a headless white egg sprouting two hands that wave about the air in search of\u00c2\u00a0freedom.<\/p>\n

\"first<\/a><\/p>\n

Two Pipped Box Turtle Hatchlings; Four to Come<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As the summer sun shines this weekend, we expect the other four viable eggs to pip and the two pipped hatchlings to fully emerge.\u00c2\u00a0 The pipped babies are resting in a warm, moist container in the Turtle Journal sunroom.<\/p>\n

\"DBT<\/a><\/p>\n

Sue Wieber Nourse’s Handful of Terrapin Hatchlings<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

While we celebrate our first South Coast Eastern box turtle hatchlings of the year, we are still rescuing multiple dozens of diamondback terrapin hatchlings from nests on Wellfleet’s Lieutenant Island each day.\u00c2\u00a0 Sue Wieber Nourse patroled the entire island today, finding hatchlings emerging from protected nests and from wild nests.\u00c2\u00a0 Tiny turtle tracks crisscross the roadways and dunes.\u00c2\u00a0 While Boston and New York are on Eastern Time and Chicago is on Central, Cape Cod is definitely on Turtle Time from now through the end of September.<\/p>\n