@Caneyscud. I saw that episode previewed and wanted to watch it but ended up missing it.

When you're handling a snake and it poops on you, it means the snake only wants to get away. It's a flight response as well as a defensive mechanism. It's lightening its load so it can get away faster and, as you know, it smells really bad. Kinda makes you want to turn loose of it right? Which is, in fact, all part of the snake's plan.

@Annie. It's nice to see the respect you have for these greatly disrespected yet beneficial creatures.

Nice story Ken. I guess you were both suprised as well as a little disappointed once the light came on huh :) ?  Guess you would have been even more suprised had any of them hatched! Might have been one for the record books. "Male snake regurgitates clutch of eggs that hatch". Now THAT would have been an even bigger story.

Most of my stories aren't quite as interesting. I do recall one time while hunting Forida Kingsnakes in south Fl. I was by myself quietly walking along one of the canals. I was carefully watching the ground for any sign of snakes when an 8 foot gator bolted into the water right next to me! I must have walked right past it before it took off! I nearly had a "lightening of the load" response myself! Took me about an hour to shake the willies off after that one. Gators are everywhere down there. Just glad that one didn't see me as a meal :-/ . 

Or the time walking down a ranch road on our deer lease near Laredo - walking to the place my dad was going to pick me up.  I was just about to step on a craggy gray stick in the road when at the last minute I realized it wasn't a stick.  Thankfully he was cold and wasn't very fast.  Now, the lightening the load was lightning fast!  

Or when  swimming in McQueeney at my Uncle's dock and you look over to your right and a snake was eyeball to eyeball.  I did not take time to figure out if it was a water snake or a moccasin.  Flee response was immediate!

But then again a mere rabbit can scare the bejeebers outta me when surprised as one did last night walking through the yard to my Brown Turkey.  It seems I hadn't cut the grass in a couple of weeks and this savage mutant devil frankenrabbit was nicely hidden until it bolted between my legs.  I didn't know what got me, but I knew I was a goner for a second there! 

Nice snake stories everybody. I went looking for some today but could not find any:( No salamanders either, just African nightcrawlers and centipedes.

The eggs under my fig are still there, I will try to catch them hatching. My guess is they are turtle eggs because there is a pond right near by. They are not soft. I did my best to set them back the way they were after I uncovered them the other day so I hope they will hatch ok. I did manage to get a few pics of a big red-bellied cooter, the eggs look too small to be from them though.

Brent, your guess is as good as (or better than) mine, but all the snake eggs I'm familiar with are soft, so turtle seems the safest bet. We had several pet desert tortoises in the yard when I was growing up, and their eggs were roughly the size and shape of ping pong balls, with fairly rigid shells--but they buried them completely. If you want to find out for sure, maybe you could rig a little fence of hardware cloth around them to trap the hatchlings long enough for a look. If you do, though, provide some shade so they don't hatch and get cooked by the sun.

Hi Brent,
More than likely you are looking at lizard or snake eggs.  A turtle lays their eggs directly underneath them buy digging a hole with their hind legs.  So unless you set your fig pot on the soil after the eggs where laid, they are not turtle eggs.
Gosh, I have spent many many summer humid nights running the back roads of Louisiana looking for herps.    Catching snakes, tree frogs and even crawfish crossing the road.
My only hair raising experience was seining a pond on a golf course in Slidell, LA. one summer night with a full moon.  After pulling the seine up we kept hearing a hissing noise - turned out it was a huge snapper.  Last time I did that.
I raised milksnakes for the pet trade, had about 10 different varieties.  They are very beautiful snakes and make wonderful pets. 

Kathy- No lizards here, the fig is in the ground and the nest is actually to the side of the tree in a sunny spot. I protected it today and watered it a little since it has not rained for a few days. I feel like i should give them the best chance after i disturbed them when weeding.

Their fig nanny is DFIC 17 Brown Turkey, by the way.

Hey Brent,

If those eggs are hard with no "spongey" feel to them then they are most likely turtle eggs. Especially if you are in close proximity to a pond that has turtles in it.

If you think they are too small to belong to the big red-belly, then they are likely going to be from something in the mud or musk turtle family. Baby turtles of this type are super cute little things. Mainly because they are just so darn small. Good on you for looking out for them!

By the way, that big red-belly on the log is most likely a female. Know how you can tell? Male turtles from the cooter/slider complex almost always have very long finger nails/claws on their front feet. They use them in courtship to "tickle" the sides of the females cheeks. I know, it sounds like I'm making this up, but it's true. I've seen them in action. Fact is stranger than fiction sometimes.

Excellent photos of the turtle on the log by the way.

I believe you Bill, for anyone who doesn't think turtles love each other then this picture should change their minds:) Sorry the quality is not as good, it is from 2 years ago and my camera was not as nice.

ken,

question for you on unknown israeli red. did you keep the cutting in water outside of the house or inside of the house? it's been little over a week for me and they are not forming anything in the "vase of water" thing.

mine is in the kitchen counter at around 77 degree. i also have few cuttings in the old baggie method. the baggie method formed mold, so washed it off and put it back in. i might go with modified jon "new baggie"/dan "peat pot" method.

rafed alos sent me some cutting of VdB/BT (not sure which) to test. i put them in old baggie method, and they have root initial and actually getting leaves in less then a week.

pete

Pete--My apologies for having missed your post; I only saw it this morning when I opened it to add an update.

Noss, such heart-stoppers are always funnier in hindsight. ;-)

ken,

i used dan's peat pot method on all of my unknown israeli red. out of 6, one was getting too much mold and i couldn't control it so i dumped it. from the 5 cuttings that's left, one is now in 8" pot. other two are outside since one has very nice root formation, and other is doing something that rafed's test cuttings were doing before they took off. both will go into 8" pot today or tomorrow.

i have two left in the bin with no real sign of anything. out of two in the bin, one is showing good green on the top, but i don't see much of any roots.

pete

Pete--great job! Hopefully mine will eventually get with the program as well. Rooting is still a coin toss for me--I'll think I have something figured out, and then next time it doesn't seem to work. Maybe one of these days....

Well, one egg hatched today. I took them home after marking the tops of the eggs because Irene was coming and 2 eggs were washed away during the previous storm. So there are 2 more to hatch. Any idea what they are?

Ken- try adding a little charcoal to your compost, it will help with aeration and a low ph, and it will adsorb the salts that are present in the compost. I am going to try the same next season. Crushed hardwood lump charcoal should work about as well as the expensive horticultural stuff, you can make your own with a couple cans too. No briquettes though.

Brent, I have no first-hand experience with east-coast turtles, but the closest I can figure from an old field guide is that you are the proud foster granddad of a Sternotherus odoratus, or stinkpot. Not a very inspiring name, but a pretty interesting little critter. The book I have says "If a turtle ever falls on your head or drops into your canoe, it will probably be this, or one of the other musk turtles." Evidently stinkpots have been known to climb up the trunks of steeply sloping trees in search of suitable basking areas, and may reach heights of 6 feet or more above the water. Better keep those fig trunks growing straight up!

Hi Brent,
My guess is a musk turtle aka stinkpot.

Check out the picture of Monroe:
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/turtles/babyphoto.htm

I think they are stinkpots! The other 2 hatched and they all burrowed down into the smoss and leaf litter I had the eggs in. I will find an earthworm to offer them tomorrow morning and then take them back to the pond. I don't think I am equipped to head start them, I wish I could though, they are so cute!

Oddly enough Ken, I have been thinking about using the narrow canal portion of this pond for some self watering containers. I want to see if there are enough nutrients in the water to grow a fig. I would not want to add any more nutrients to the pond though. If I do try I will make it turtle accessible and they can climb all they want to.

Using your pond for self-watering containers sounds like an interesting idea--good luck with it! I wonder how a fig would fare if planted in-ground where water level was only 2 or 3 feet below grade?

Good question. The ones I have planted are about six feet above the pond's water level and drain well. I would be afraid of what would happen here in the fall and spring if they were lower though,the ground would be very saturated from the storm runoff. It might be a way to keep roots "contained" though.