Sunny Side Up

Tonight Sunny is preparing to lay eggs. I first noticed her in the very back of the compound about 8 pm, already with a good-sized hole going. It's now close to ten and she's still perfecting the little dirt womb. I'm going to try to stay up and collect them tonight, which means a very groggy morning for me. Waa-waa.

So now a few pics from the evening:

Eddie loves his prized miniature soccer ball

Twyla is just so freakin weird! We rarely get even a glimpse of her. This evening, after the turtles' usual bedtime, she was just sitting here, out in the open, all clamped up tight. FYI, turtles sleep in a somewhat relaxed position, never clamped up. I moved her because this was my path to and from Sunny and I didn't want to stumble over her in the dark. Weird turtle. PS FYI, she doesn't appear to be sick, but then how could I really tell?

Sunny busy with her nest

OK, so I finished this post about 10:05 and went back out for my every-quarter-hour egg check, and she had already laid (lain? I don't know) 4 eggs. She laid 2 more, and I caught the last one with my scissor fingers! Egg catching is fun! I moved Sunny, who was in her egg-laying trance, over to the side, then retrieved the rest of the eggs. They all look good, which means squat. Finally I put Sunny back over her nest so she could finish filling it in.

I slightly covered the eggs and put them on the shelf in the toilet room. I didn't think about taking a pic of them before covering them up, and it's probably a sure thing that these will be the ones that hatch. I'll wait 10 - 12 weeks, 3 months, or 90 days, plus a little longer. I am hopeful.