Terrapin fights & virgin eggs
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I have a couple of complicated questions. I have a 9 year old female (probably texas or florida) terrapin who has lived in my friend’s brackish pond for a few years, hibernating each winter. She is huge (about 9 inches or more) & until this year, never saw another diamondback. She also escaped from her pond (in metro maryland) in may, but miraculously returned several days later to open arms. I managed to get a female northern, about 6 inches and we put her in the pond with the older one. At first, the larger turtle regarded her with curiosity, following her & nosing, but without aggression. 2 months later, however, the larger one began nipping the smaller one on the flanks of her shell, & a few days later, several eggs were found in the water and in a potted plant that sits in the pond. The eggs in the water were obviously bitten open, but the two from the pot were recovered & placed in an incubator (one is yellow & almost certainly an infertile egg). Two days after the eggs were found, I noticed large bites & some blood & damaged scutes on the smaller turtle, in the same spot on the shell where the larger turtle was previously nipping. We removed her, dried her out & put neosporin on her. My questions are, has anyone ever seen territorial aggression in gravid diamondbacks; is this a size response (6 vs 9 inches)? Do diamonbacks normally lay unfertilized eggs? The larger turtle has been in this particular pond since she was 6 & never laid eggs until we placed the other turtle in with her. The other turtle is almost certainly a female (bulky shell, large head, tiny tail). Could another female trigger the older turtle to lay eggs? There is almost no chance that she was fertilized on her days long sojourn around the suburban neighborhood. And, although I did not see the egg laying, we were relatively sure that it was the older turtle, who had never seen a male, who laid the eggs. The smaller turtle is only 6 inches, maybe 2-3 years old, but it was in contact with plenty of males before I got her. Is she too young? Finally, am I treating the wounds correctly? Thanks for reading & to anyone who has any input.
— In diamondbackterrapins@yahoogroups.com, “farmterp”
I have 2 3 year old 6″ females laying fertile eggs. Vic
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