If you lived anywhere near the End of the Rainbow Valley you would have noticed something is going on...It has to do with turtles on the road/ roadside in June and July. They are everywhere and it doesn't have anything to do with the full moon but rather the temps.
What I didn't realize is that there are many types of 'mud' turtles. The ones crossing by our pond are flatter.
And they are willing to risk life/ limb to find a good place to lay their eggs. It must be true that the grass/ sand is always greener on the other side as evidenced by the number of turtles that have been hit trying to cross the road.
My friends that do bird rehabilitation (and that's not for drinking problems either) also use fiberglass glue to fix the shells of these car accident victims.
The other tidbits I learned were that these turtles generally have sex in the water but lay their 1-6 eggs on land. They dig a hole and then lay their eggs. The newborns's gender will be determined by the temperature of the nest. The warmer it is, the more females there will be. Mom also doesn't need to sit on the nest. Who knew?
Guess we won't be seeing those babies for a while (between 45-90) days as it all depends on humidity and the heat.
Meanwhile peeps watch out for turtles crossing... There won't be any signs like the ones for deer.
They are such fun creatures. I thought I was all done with providing turtle escort after leaving Goose Island but found myself helping one cross the road in the campground here in Ham Lake when I was doing laundry the other day.
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