Mama Turtle and Papa Turtle

It turns out that I was half right: 

One of our turtles is a female . . . and one is a male.

And now they are going to be parents!

Chris was digging something in their enclosure last week when he stumbled upon their buried hatch of eggs. We don't know how many there are because he stopped digging and covered them with the dirt, but apparently two or three eggs is common.

The female now hisses if one gets close to her. She is often found lying right above where we know the eggs are buried.

We called an expert on Eastern box turtles at a local county nature preserve. Had we called them earlier, we'd have learned that these turtles are protected in North Carolina so we weren't supposed to keep a wild-caught turtle. On the other hand, these turtles take seven to ten years to reach reproductive maturity, so the woman was very excited that we have babies on the way.

She explained that, actually, a male and female shouldn't be housed together: that they may be brought together for companionship, but not housed together, and that we would have to separate the babies as well. So, she advised that it was really best if we wait to see if the babies hatch, then, when they do, we let all of them free and hope they can get into hibernation before winter comes.

We presented the good news (babies!) and the bad news (setting them free) to the children. They took it pretty well but asked if, when the babies hatch, we can invite over their best buddies to see them before we let them free, which we thought was a great idea. A turtle going-away party of sorts!