Cocoa is a drama queen

I knew it, Cocoa didn't lay any eggs yet. She obviously didn't find the right perfect spot in the entire yard. She's always very choosy, stresses everybody, and it takes her days to finally accept one spot, because she can't hold the eggs any longer. She wandered around for several hours this morning to turn back into her favorite hide place to rest. What was interesting that at around 6am Georgy came out of his hide and followed her, but without bothering her. Unfortunately my cam batteries just went dead. He obviously knew she is ready to lay her eggs and as a good husband, he wanted to be with her. When she lays in the yard, he is always by her side and sits patiently beside her when she's digging the nest until she's completely finished. Not so Daisyboy, although he is part of the game also, but he doesn't care about Cocoa more than having his fun with her.

I need to watch her closely this afternoon, when it gets cooler she might wander again and try to find a place to lay her eggs. Pretty early this year, usually she doesn't start laying eggs until late october.

Cocoa becomes restless again

This morning at 5:30am when I sat on the patio to drink my morning coffee, I heard something just around the corner. When I went looking what it is, I saw Cocoa restless wandering around.

She is usually a sleepyhead and doesn't get up that early. I thought she may be hungry and hurried in the kitchen to make her a nice breakfast, but she totally ignored the plate with all the goodies and passed by. Well, that can mean only one thing. She is already ready to lay her first eggs and looking for a good spot in the yard to do it. Poor girl, she hasn't eaten in 2 days now and I was already wondering why she wouldn't eat. She probably carries a bunch of eggs with her and has no space for food any more. I hope she finds her spot early enough before the big heat breaks out today.

Good news, the last 3 babies got adopted

Today we found a very good home for the last 3 babies with the help of Julie from the Turtle rescue of Long Island
A family in South Georgia has decided to give them a forever home. They are truly committed and I am thrilled to know my last babies going into a bright future, just like the first 2. The guy that adopted my other 3 babies, never contacted me again after he got them, didn't even send me a picture of their safe arrival and I have regretted it so much that I trusted him. I have begged him several times to please send me a picture, so that I can see they are all alive and well, but my emails got ignored from that day on when he had them. Shame on this guy, who probably adopted them for resale. Should he ever read this blog, which he probably won't because he obviously didn't have any interest anyway, then know that what goes around comes around and everyone will get justice one day for bad things they have done. I hope you get yours soon!

Anyway, it will be a last time a very stressful night for me, when they are on their way to their new home, until they have arrived. They'll be shipped on Monday evening. It will be very hard to be left with nothing but the empty pen. I've loved them all like my own babies, basically they were my babies, not Cocoas. She only laid the eggs, I incubated them, helped them hatching, fed them, bathed them and loved them. She did not care for her babies at all.
But I won't breed any more, it was too much to endure, all this adoption process and the separating and shipping. As much as I loved them for a while, but the pain does not justify the fun I had.
I will however be a part of their life through pictures from the first and the third adopters, which makes me happy also.

Tomorrow I will make a lot of last pictures, so I can always look at them in the future and remember the time when they were my babies.