Remember this guy?
Yep. That’s a fortune cookie, alright.
The next day, this is what it looked like.
That’s its tail. When I touched it, the turtle would curl its tail up. I think it’s ticklish.
I would show you a photo of the finished product, but I can’t. Because there are eight of them now, and I have no idea which is which. Eight. I was pretty wrong. And there are still a couple of eggs that might hatch. We’re almost at 50% as it is. Not bad considering their story.
Full to the top with cute? Ready for that to-go box? Coming right up.
I want to stick it in my pocket and take it home. I won’t. No, really. Can you see that egg tooth.? It blows me away!
Here’s your to-go box. Box turtle, that is. It hatched yesterday. It’s an Eastern Box Turtle, Tennessee’s state reptile.
Its plastron is completely different from the snapping turtles’. You can see the beginnings of some yellow, though it may take a few years for real color to appear. Note how its yolk is almost completely absorbed.
This post is for my friend, sj. I hope she knows why. All the purty turtles to you, sj!
Becoming Cliche 
ZOMG, IT IS TOTALLY A TINY PPT! Squeeeee!
I could hear your squee from here. I knew you’d love this. It was hard keeping it a secret until I had the shots! Now to flood your inbox with more.
YAY!
Yay for the turtles of last resort!
I know! As Amy would say, root for the underturtle!
How cool. Which part is what’s left of the yolk.
It has a tiny bit of dimpling about 2/3 of the way down. That’s its bellybutton, as opposed to the gigantic “outies” of the snapping turtles last week.
Very cute. And what are you going to do with 8 + turtles? **
They are slated for re-release. They usually do that close to where the mother was found.
That last turtle you held up looks very confused about the whole situation. It is just so cute!
It really did seem confused. Every time I took a picture, it came over to me like “How did I get in here? Whatcha doing? Where is everyone?”
This is too cute!! I want!!!!
I KNOW! I want to stick one in my pocket and name it George. But I won’t. I WON’T, I say! (In case my boss is reading this)
Oh the urge, MUST FIGHT URGE!! LOL
GAH! Can’t handle all of the cute!
I know. I feel like my blood sugar is topping out because of all the sweet!
Oh, the baby box turtle is WONDERFUL. Look at that little FAAAAACE! He also looks like he has dinosaur plates on the back of his shell, which are probably because he was all squished in his egg, but now I’m imagining him growing up to be a GIGANTIC DINO-TURTLE!
I would have much trouble not walking out with pocketsful of turtles. They’d have to do an airport patdown of me everytime I left. “Amy…we’ve talked about this…” “SIGH, HERE. I’m sorry. I COULD NOT HELP IT!”
The egg tooth really makes them look like dinosaurs to me. I don’t know why box turtle egg teeth are soooo huge!
I was proud of myself because my direct supervisor wasn’t even there, and I managed to restrain myself from swiping the box turtle!
Oh the last photo just pushed me over the edge of cute! I want to put them all in my pockets and run away with them!!! I don’t know how you can work with them and not actually die of cute overload
the last picture made me say awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww so loud my hubby came through from the next room to see what was going on lol. Absolutely beautiful! x
I love how the last picture looks posed just like the ones where the dad’s hold their babies up for the first pic in the hospital after delivery. Your hand looks very proud. 😉
That is so very awesome how many hatched. They are so cool, so very cute.
I was surprised and really pleased by the hatchling count.
Love the tiny little guys and gals–especially Sharp Tooth!! ❤
Also, I was at the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium last week and I tried to take a pic of a tortoise for you, but it ended up being a reflection-selfie instead. 😦
I have way too many reflection selfies.
Very cool. I love box turtles. As a kid, my parents had a cottage on Lake Erie and behind was a marsh. There were all kinds of turtles around there.
Holy cuteness Batman! The little guy being held up: I can almost hear him calling, stop that!
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