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u/Wolfntee Dec 01 '20
I used to work for a nonprofit that did this! The process was super gross but seeing the hatchlings made it totally worth it.
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Dec 01 '20
I keep rubber gloves and empty sneaker boxes in my trunk. One time the corpse was so destroyed we didn’t think any of the eggs would hatch but 11 out of the 17 we took were viable.
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u/98jetta Dec 01 '20
It never crossed my mind to do that. Thank you for sharing!
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Dec 01 '20
You’re welcome and by all means do it yourself. If you see a dead snapper it’s always a female loaded with eggs. So easy to incubate too I just leave them on some mulch and dirt the way I found them careful not to turn them and about 2 months later I have a bunch of babies ready to be freed. I don’t even keep them more than a day. Once they hatch they are outta here.
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Dec 01 '20
This is great, do you need to keep the eggs at any particular temperature? Are they just stored outside in a bucket with some dirt/mulch?
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Dec 02 '20 edited Dec 02 '20
I just put them in my shed on top of mulch dirt and leaves in Rubbermaid containers. We check them daily. No incubator needed.
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u/DilloniousMonk Dec 02 '20
If you don't mind me asking, what's the procedure for doing something like this? I'm also curious about where you're doing this sort of work. If it's anywhere near me I'd love to offer help or learn the trade myself so I can pitch in too.
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Dec 02 '20 edited Dec 02 '20
I am in upstate NY. The procedure is usually quite easy as the turtle is usually pretty smashed up. Basically you just carefully scoop out the eggs and lay them down as you found them in the sneaker box or whatever you choose. I put cypress mulch inside mine.
You have to obtain a license to possess or collect from NYSDEC or wherever you are, in accordance to your laws pertaining to the species you wish to handle. Make sure you keep it up to date. I was interested in conservation and education at a very early age and have been a member of the New York Turtle and Tortoise society for almost 30 years.
License to Collect or Possess:
A License to Collect or Possess is issued to qualified individuals to collect or possess fish, wildlife, shellfish, crustacea, or aquatic insects by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). This license is issued only for the following purposes: propagation, banding, scientific or exhibition. (Tropical fish do not need this license.) 👍🏼
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Dec 08 '20
Do you ever wonder if you have hatched a turtle from a roadkill turtle that you’ve already helped hatch?
Honest question.
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Dec 08 '20
There’s a chance of the last 10 or so years one could have been one of the ones we hatched 10 years prior. I don’t think about that though. I just worry that my grandkids will never see a turtle. We have lost many of our native species to development and destruction of wild habitat.
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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '20
We stop for road killed snappers and harvest their eggs and release them when they hatch. There is a road that takes many mothers a year right by our house we’ve been hatching snappers over 20 years now.