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Alpha-2 agonists and stressed turtles   The table below illustrates that the alpha-2 agonist Domitor (medetomidine), when added to oxytocin + Lutalyse (PGF-2), seemed to be less effective with healthy RES than oxytocin + Lutalyse alone.  However, that poor outcome was caused by the sequence of injection.   Because we gave…

Less common species we worked with on the turtle farm We had limited opportunities to work with small numbers of other North American turtle species at the Concordia Turtle Farm.  Usually we were only able to induce a few of each species each year so the methods we used evolved…

Methods to determine the number of eggs in a clutch During our work with RES we depended on palpation to determine if the females were carrying eggs and how successful an induction had been. An induction was only classified as successful if no eggs were palpable afterwards. In 2009 we…

Working with spiny softshell turtles   Spiny softshells (SSS) are large and aggressive. They are also fast and hard to catch; even when using drift fences on a turtle farm! SSS are much too large to palpate for eggs so we had to x-ray each animal to determine how many…

The drugs we tested on Spiny softshells We started out by using oxytocin alone to induce the SSS. We tried it at two dosage levels, after different holding periods, with a low success rate in all cases, as shown below. After trying oxytocin alone we ran a trial of a…

Side effects of drugs used with RES and SSS Oxytocin used on its own has two significant side effects.  One side effect is that it interferes with the next ovulation in species that lay multiple clutches.  That means there is often only one clutch per season where there might have…

Repeating an induction after the initial induction failed Previous work had suggested we would get the best results with a re-induction if we held an animal for 3 days after the initial, failed induction. This was difficult because there was only limited space to hold the turtles, especially the SSS…

Are there long term effects on reproductive behaviour after inducing every clutch of Red-eared sliders with Lutalyse for eleven years?   Because we were running the experiments with Australian snake necks simultaneous with the evaluation of long term behavior of RES, and only had limited space in our elevated ponds,…

Working with the Australian snake neck turtle     The Eastern snake neck turtle is very different from any of the North American turtles we have worked with. It is an exclusive carnivore with forward facing eyes. It has a very long neck and a narrow head so it can…

Results of others that used our methods   Our research has focused on a relatively small number of species. If you read the previous section (section 18) about our experience with Australian snake necks or section 15 on soft shell turtles it’s clear that not all species respond the same…