On June 6th I was driving home from a short hike at my local lake. As I pulled onto my road, and l I was nearing my driveway, i noticed something peculiar. A fairly flattened dead box turtle on the road. I knew for a fact it wasn't there when I left for the lake no more than a couple of hours prior. So I parked my car in my drive and went to examine it.
It was a sad sight to see for sure. I even saw all the eggs inside her were crushed beyond saving... Or I thought that was all of them... There was what I thought was just guts at first about a foot away from her... But then I realized they were actually the female's turtles reproductive organs with two eggs still inside. I believed they must've shot out of her when she was ran over, far enough away to be safely away from the tires..
I immediately ran inside, put on my last latex glove, and grabbed a pair of scissors. I then came back out to the scene and cut the eggs free and brought them indoors .. I then proceeded to carefully remove the organ from the eggs with an xacto knife, then wiped them clean gently with a damp paper towel. I grabbed some incubation media, dampened it, and started incubating at 77 f daytime temps give or take. (Sidenote- I had everything on hand that I needed to incubate eggs, as I used to breed and incubate crested and leopard geckos years ago. I'm glad I never got rid of those supplies.)
Anyways I really wasn't expecting anything to happen... My hopes definitely weren't through the roof. I knew the odds were low.. But, sure enough, against all odds and after only a few days of incubating, they started "chalking" or turning white from the top downwards. I immediately knew I had healthy, fertile eggs. And I had hope.
I decided I'd dig out my old reptibator incubator out of storage since I knew they were viable eggs. I figured that would give them a more controlled environment to develop... I incubated for females at around 85 f and 90% relative humidity..... And two months later they finally hatched. And they're the cutest things I've ever seen.... Two healthy little three toed box turtles.
Anyways it really was quite the journey, for them and for me. And I'm still kinda left scratching my head a bit. But man o man am I happy with these little ladies. Their names are Kismet and Kōan.
https://www.reddit.com/r/turtle/comments/wkictp/update_both_box_turtle_eggs_i_found_on_the_road/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
This is the link to my reddit post. I give my full consent for you to use any of those photos as well if you would like. Although I'd prefer to stay anonymous. I just know this story can inspire and touch the hearts of many like it did to mine.
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