A painted pond turtle lays her eggs

Jimmy came by the bus one morning last week and rang the doorbell (yes, we have a doorbell, and it plays "Greensleeves") - he said that they had seen a painted pond turtle coming up through the yard and that she was on her way to lay eggs. We headed out and she was still on her way to find the ideal place for laying her eggs (we don't know the criteria for "ideal" but she evidently did).

She was still looking for just the right spot... we were over near Ricky and Kendra's place.

She had found a spot that satisfied her. She first dug out a nest, and then laid her eggs.

You can tell that she was hard to see - but she was making movements while digging and then covering the nest.

Jimmy continued with raking the hay.

She was working away...

Jimmy avoided disturbing her when he raked near where she was.

Hay is now raked on both sides of her.

I had moved to the other side of her by this point.

Video of her covering the eggs: https://youtu.be/AhFwg2BkcPc

Dwayne and I went across the road to feed the "teenagers" (cattle) - when I got back, she was heading back to the pond.

She headed across the field to the lane between the two houses: https://youtu.be/xm9MZO5V5zY

Then she headed down the lane

- on the lane

She was making pretty good time on the lane... https://youtu.be/nNeYGIlkGX8
and then as she turned and headed through the pasture... https://youtu.be/JTS5HlYJzKY

I went back to where she had been and could not find the nest...

Jimmy went back out there and marked it with a flag...

But I still really couldn't see it... Jimmy said that it is designed not to be found, and that he could only find it because of the disturbance in the dirt on the day she did it.

We saw another turtle apparently heading back toward the pond today. Jimmy said it is the season for laying eggs and it is not uncommon to see quite a few during this time.

Regina looked it up and the incubation time and it is about two months. We figure that the ones we saw being laid last week will be hatching somewhere around Joseph's birthday in August... the babies are going to hatch quite a distance from the pond - I guess their success in arriving at the pond identifies that they are strong and good for the survival of the species.