{"id":3141,"date":"2018-06-21T22:15:23","date_gmt":"2018-06-22T03:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vetmed.illinois.edu\/wel\/?p=3141"},"modified":"2018-06-21T22:15:23","modified_gmt":"2018-06-22T03:15:23","slug":"week-3-cat-or-frog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vetmed.illinois.edu\/wel\/week-3-cat-or-frog\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 3: Cat or Frog"},"content":{"rendered":"

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We Felt Eggs<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/b><\/p>\n

It is that time of season where female Blanding\u2019s turtles are becoming gravid (carrying eggs). These turtles have delayed maturation, reaching sexual maturity between 14-20 years of age, which this one of the reasons for an unsustainable population. The amount of turtles that survive to this age, avoiding habitat destruction, road mortality, and predation, is on the low side. The females that are this age are the ones that are monitored, tracked, and\/or induced for egg collection for the head-starting program. These ladies typically lay between 6-15 eggs.\"\"<\/b>How do we know these turtles are gravid? They don\u2019t exactly have a bulging belly. Instead we must use our palpation skills (feeling with our fingers) and place a finger in the prefemoral fossa to feel for mini <\/span>ping-pong balls. After feeling a few turtles we have gotten better at distinguishing how far along they are in their gestation period which is about 60 days. We have been able to differentiate between follicles, soft eggs, and hard eggs! We are expecting to see these turtles make some big moves and start traveling in the next week or two, lay their eggs in what they find to be the best spot and leave the rest up to nature. Nesting season is coming in hot!<\/span><\/p>\n

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Cat or Frog<\/b><\/p>\n

No explanation for this video, but just give it a listen.<\/span><\/p>\n