Determining the techniques we would use
Before we could begin to experiment with different drugs that would induce oviposition we had to design a standard method of giving injections, a standard site for those injections and a consistent environment to contain the turtles. Environmental concerns included the possible need for noise control, how to blind the turtles to potentially frightening movements around them, preferred temperatures and deciding if the outcome was better if the turtle was kept dry or was kept in water. We also had to adopt a method to label the turtles so we could identify them days or weeks later for follow-up.
During these initial tests we used 10 units of oxytocin per kilogram as our standard dose because that was found to be most effective by John Tucker when he was working with wild RES in Illinois in 2007 and by us in the 1990s (see the “2007 article” section of this web-site). We also adopted the use of a grid as Tucker did in 2007 because it was the easiest method to keep the oviposited eggs safe from damage. When we were faced with a choice between two methods that had similar outcomes we always picked the one that was easiest to use.