WARNING: This post contains pictures that may or may not make you puke. Proceed at your own risk.
Recap: Some of the river terrapin eggs that were laid at the project site at Pasir Kumpal, Dungun were brought back to the River Terrapin Head-starting Facility (read: hatchery) on KUSTEM campus because we could not afford to hire somebody to look after them at the project site. The surface of the sand had to be moistened every alternate day, or whenever the need arises to control the incubation temperature. Depending on the temperature in which the eggs were incubated, the hatchlings that have hatched will climb up to the surface of the sand. We call this “hatchlings emergence”.
So this morning, we excavated all the nests in the styrofoam boxes because the incubation duration has exceeded its maximum 80-day. Nests are excavated to rescue weak hatchlings, e.g. hatchlings that are too weak to climb up to the surface of the sand by themselves as well as to prevent them from being attacked by ants, which were attracted to the dead hatchlings or rotten eggs in the styrofoam boxes.
The above pictures shows a dead terrapin hatchling, still in its shell. The hatchling is presumed to be dead in an early stage because the egg yolk is still quite big in size, BUT not too early because most of its anatomy had already been formed; the shell, eyes and claws.
Another dead hatchling.. Or maybe it should be termed “dead embryo” because it did not hatch, and hence should not be called a “hatchling”.. Right?
But not all that were excavated died. In fact, 26 hatchlings were rescued but their shells have not completely opened. These hatchlings are considered “weak and slow” and they cannot be placed into the water immediately. They may not start feeding immediately either.
So what I did the whole day was notching, weighing and measuring these hatchlings, which was pretty time-consuming because their shells have not completely opened, hence making it very difficult to “cut a little part of it”. Plus I spent most of the time brushing away sand that was stuck to their bodies. And because these hatchlings were rescued, most of them were still in their “baby position” and I had to make sure I notched their shell, not the skin of their legs.
And this hatchling may have used its “elbow” to pip the eggshell, instead of using its caruncle (a sharp horny tubercle below the nose of newborn hatchlings, which is used to pierce the eggshell and usually disappears two weeks after hatching - see below).
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i dont think they look ugly…i think they look great. too bad they are dead! haha… its better than looking at human foetuses in tanks or something. hehe
pelf: Aww.. Definitely better than seeing human foetuses, definitely..
What an eye-opener! I now better understand all the little things that you people do in conserving terrapins. Keep writing this stuff!
Cheers
pelf: If feels good to know that there are people who likes to read about stuff like this.. Others may claim it to be too technical or scientific :))
Poor baby terrapins. Luckily I did not see any of these dead baby terrapins when I visited your hatchery.
Did you pray for them so that they can reincarnate as soon as possible?
pelf: No I did not pray for them.. I was too busy preparing formaldehyde to preserve them..
Pelf… this make me even more wanna go to the hatchery. Ah…. i’m thinking of goin there during terrapin independence day!! *whink whink*
Now i get to learn more about terrapin. Thanks a lot ya…!!
pelf: Err.. *scratches head* We may NOT organize Terrapin Independence Day this year because we did NOT manage to trap any of the 150 one-year-olds that we released last year. They could be dead for all we know. And this year, the two-year-olds do NOT look significantly bigger than those one-year-olds we released last year. However, we will need to further discuss this matter..
Well, I don’t know what you make of it, but what you’re doing - it’s very fulfilling work to me.
pelf: Thanks..
As for the terrapins - I guess that’s the way nature intended it to be. The eggs are laid in large numbers so that the chances of some making it to full adulthood is greater.
pelf: Well, this is only true to marine turtles I guess, because each clutch of eggs the females lay contains an average of 100 eggs, for an average of 5 to 6 times per season. But for the river terrapins, each female lays only between 15-20 eggs, for a maximum of twice per season. Go figure *winks*
Oooo…..VERY interesting indeed, gurl!
Did u find any deformed ones? What would u do for/to them if there are any?
pelf: Nope, none of them were deformed, as in broke a leg or something though their carapace (the shell) may look a bit weird (following the shape of the egg).. But if there were any deformed hatchlings, they certained needed to be taken care of separately.
Poor hatchlings. Life’s a b*tch. The first 2 pictures actually kinda look like toys hehe. Ok ok, I know I deserve to be slapped
pelf: Hhaahha, but I won’t slap you.. See? I’m just sooo nice :))
Yay for the hatchlings and sorry for those that didn’t make it.
pelf: Aww..
Have you guys thought of some other way to track them individually besides notching? Like microchips…those would probably be harder to inject into baby terrapins (unlike the mammals and birds they’re normally used on) but perhaps they could be glued to the shells or something.
pelf: We do microchip our terrapins. In fact, we chipped 150 of the one-year-olds before we released them in August last year. Our plan is to chip those that we will be releasing. The others, we will just notch them
And, we tried and found out that the hatchlings were a little difficute to chip because they were still small - but it could be done 
Dear Pelf,
May I request for permission to copy your pictures to show my ex-bio teacher? She’s into these things and your pictures will make GREAT visual aids in lessons.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Feli
pelf:
Dear Feli,
Yes, you may take those pictures you think will help your teacher in his/her teaching
Cheers,
Pelf