#turtle hatchling

[maureen2musings]

And away they go!

seven_seas_explorer

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[summerglowinglight]

[xavmaldonian]

Can you just imagine when I was much younger.

Playing on my first Nintendo 64 console, and playing the fabulous Mario 64.

That I never got past the first Bowser stage because he scared the living daylights out of little me back then.

And yet.

Here I am now just loving the big turtle dragon dood and absolutely loving pairing him up with the "lesser known" mario bro.

Life be weird like that

[nature-scares-me]

[transingthoseformers]

Noooo because any time you see an animal or character lay a shit ton of eggs you've gotta ask "okay so what are we expecting to happen to most of these??"

Because when you have a lot of offspring like that it's usually because you expect at least some of them to die or straight up not hatch

That's like nature

[heymickie]

𝗳𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗺: tmnt 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: raphael & leonardo (ft. splinter, hatchlings) 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀: 1897 🐭: i gave no clue how to write out her finding out, that may be a later down the roat thing. 𝘁𝘄: adotion/adopting 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗺𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶 𝗱𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲-𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁/𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗺𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗳𝗳 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗱 ʚ🍓ɞ 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗲

𝗔 𝗙𝗔𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥'𝗦 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗧 𝗙𝗙𝗡 ʚ🍓ɞ 𝗔𝗢𝟯

Raphael sat on the roof, pushing his hand on his bald head with a slow sigh. It has been three months since they found the hatchlings. For three months, Raphael had watched his brothers with his niblings and Elisa. He hadn’t held her at all, every time he tried he got scared and backed away. His anger was hardly ever in check, what if he hurt her?

“I thought I would find you up here,” Raphael looked over his shoulder for a moment to see Leonardo come walking towards him. Leo sat beside his brother, noticing how quick Raph was to look away and back at the city again. “Are you okay?” Leo watched his brother shrug. As promised, Leo had been taking care of both Elisabetta and Domenico, Splinter and Usagi have helped him quite a bit. It had been rough, their kids are so young, so unpredictable. All the brothers were working together as first time fathers, all but Raphael. Leonardo was being patient, but he just wanted Raphael to at least acknowledge her. Even if it was as his niece, Leo would be happy to keep her. If that was what Raphael wanted. Needed. Raphael cleared his throat in response, not daring to look at his brother. “You cannot keep ignoring her,” Leo said, sighing. “Even if you don’t want to raise her yourself, she is going to be around.”

“You don’t think I know that?” Raph snapped, turning to his brother. Leo is the last person he would admit that he was terrified to. Even if he owed everything to Leo right now. He truly knew he was making the right choice, he could love her no matter what, but it takes only a second for everything to go up in flames. However, knowing he was making the right choice had not meant it was an easy one.

“I get this is hard on you, it’s hard on all of us,” Leo tried to explain, watching as Raphael pulled himself up so he was standing.

“No, no the fuck it’s not,” Raphael growled, glaring at his older brother. “You, Don, and Mikey all jumped in this head first!” Raphael flung his hand up, watching his brother stand up. “Because you guys can! You know you won’t hurt them!” Raphael turned around, already feeling like he wanted to break something. He quickly glanced around the roof for something he could hit, settling for kicking a random piece of ply wood. “We never thought we could have children and now there are four mini-us’,” he cleared his throat again. It felt like it was closing, “I would never forgive myself if I hurt any of them,” especially his daughter.

“We may have stepped up, but we are still terrified!” Leo argued. “Donnie jumps to the lab every time Luca even sniffles, Mikey is terrified that he’s not mature enough, and I am trying to be a leader while taking care of two kids,” it was a lot on his shoulders. “We’re all terrified, Raph, we’re just trying to keep our heads above the water.” Even April and Casey are terrified, April’s due in two months and Auggie is turning into a toddler. April is having a harder time coming down to the lair to help them, which is causing her even more stress. “You can’t avoid them, they are here. Elisa is here!”

“I know that!” Raphael yelled, he felt his heart breaking in multiple pieces. “I feel horrible for not being there for her or the others, but if I hurt her, I won’t know what to do with myself.” Raphael stayed distant, but every time he looked at her… he knew he was not the right fit. Not yet. “I cannot be her father, Leo.” Finally, those words escaped. He had been thinking of it for months but terrified to say it. Terrified to make it real. Surely, his older brother can understand that this wasn’t an easy decision.

“Be her Uncle then,” Leo straightened his shoulders. A father’s heart meant you would do anything for your child, even if it broke you in the process. Leonardo understood that, even in three short months. “We can tell her one day, when you’re ready. Just…” he sighed, “be there.” Raphael rubbed his face, nodding a bit reluctantly. He could tell his brother needed a moment, maybe more than a moment. “Could we talk about this, and what to expect, in the morning?” Leo wanted to ease his brother’s burden, make it about himself needing a break. Being a father of two was a big step, after all. Raphael looked thankful that his brother wanted to take a breather, he gave a nod and took the excuse to leave.

𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 𝗔𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗟𝗔𝗜𝗥

Raphael hit the punching bag, trying his best not to scream, with the half of the babies having already been put to bed. He felt like his world was changing. He didn’t want to give Elisa up, but that was the right thing to do. Wasn’t it? Leo is a great father, a much better father than he could ever be. But then why does he want to be selfish?

“Good evening, son,” Raphael was pulled out of his thoughts, stopping the punching bag from swinging. He turned to look at his father, his father was holding Elisa. Raph stared at her for a long moment. “Would you like to hold her?” Raphael spluttered out in protest, but before he could blink, his father arranged his arms and placed the tiny bundle into his arms, his shoulders tensed as he looked at his little bundle. Raph never let himself think about having a child, he is a mutant turtle for God’s sake. He never thought this could be possible. “Funny, how you never expect to hold the whole world in your hands, but then you hold your child.” Splinter just watched his son and granddaughter, remembering fondly of holding his own children when they were so small.

“She is not my child,” Raphael looked at his father for a moment before looking back at her. “Leo is going to be her father,” and he’ll be a good one.

“Is that your decision?” He asked, making his son look at him. “You are certain you can just be her uncle? Can you treat her the way you treat Dom, Titan, or Luca?” Splinter wasn’t meaning to push his son, he was just hoping he understood that once it was said and done, he was no longer the father. Splinter never had to wonder if taking his sons were the right thing, he knew right away it was. The rat was meant to be a father, but he understood that not everyone was meant to be, no matter how hard they tried.

“I know I am not fit to be her father,” he ran a thumb over her cheek, “I could scare her or, worse, hurt her.” He sounded like a broken record. “I have to be just Uncle Raph.” Raphael wondered if he could look at Elisa and listen to her call him ‘Uncle’, he wondered if he could ever love the others the way he already loved her. “I am making the right choice, I know I am. However, I want to be selfish and keep her for myself.”

“A father, one who truly cares for his child, will always wonder if he makes the right choices. Even the hard ones.” Splinter placed a calming hand on his son, “If your heart tells you this is the right choice, then it is,” he promised. He looked down at his grandchild before looking at his child. “A man will make many sacrifices for the good of his children,” the old rat said, humming in response. He watched his son for a moment before moving to sit down, moving to meditation sitting as he looked at his child. “You love her. I truly believe you will not hurt her,” but he understood that one does not always have control over their anger, especially Raphael. Raphael finally pulled away from looking at Elisa before moving to sit opposite of his father.

“This isn’t a choice I made easily,” Raphael desperately wanted someone to understand the way he was feeling. Through the years, Raphael made tremendous stride to work on his anger, even controlling it when he met Casey. However, Raphael was prone to mistakes when it came to his anger. When he pushed people away or started throwing his hands, he wasn’t always able to see who he was hurting in the process. “I love her,” but he knew love can only do so much damage control. He knew his father would never straight out tell him he was making a good choice, Splinter knew that would break Raphael. Hell, Splinter probably had more faith in his son than he did. “I take a lot of risks,” he was prone to falling into danger. He often let his instincts take over, “risking Elisa feeling safe and loved cannot be one of them.” It takes one second for her to get too close while he is raging. One. That one second can and will destroy any thought of safety and love that he would work so hard to making her feel.

Leonardo cleared his throat, standing beside the door. Raphael looked up at him for a moment before looking back at Elisa. Leonardo looked at the sleeping baby in Raphael’s arms. “I do not think it was easy for you,” he promised. He moved to sit beside his brother, watching their father get up. The silence was long and deafening, they could hear Splinter putting on the kettle. “Do you trust me with her? Are you sure you want me to be her father? If not, I am sure Mikey or Donnie would do it.” In a heart beat.

“No,” Raphael let out a deep sigh, almost taking a breath, before steeling his eyes to his older brother. They were finally talking about it. “I do not trust anyone more than I do you,” he admitted. Leonardo, in a way, also raised himself and three brothers. Sensei was a great father, but that didn’t mean Leo wasn’t parentified.

“If we do this,” Leo talked slow, as if he was trying to make Raphael understand that he wasn’t accusing him, “we can’t just uproot her whole viewpoint because you changed your mind.” He was warning him. “We can tell her, one day. When you and her are both ready,” but he couldn’t promise that she would understand, especially if he hadn’t done anything to confirm his fears. Leo didn’t even have to warn his brother what would happen if he did. He already loved his niblings as his own, he was proud to take the mantle if Raph wanted him to. “It makes it easier knowing I can see her everyday anyway,” be there if she needed him. He may not be her father figure, but she could at least know he was there for her anyway. Raphael’s jaw clenched as his green eyes stung, tears threatening to fall. He couldn’t let it. He looked away from his brother before looking at his daughter niece, allowing one tear fall before he whipped his head away. “Thank you, Leo,” the large turtle stood, sitting Elisa in Leo’s arms.

[pamwmsn]

📷: pamwmsn.tumblr.com

With the coming storm, prayers for the sea turtle babies🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🐢

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Green turtle hatchling. Location: North West Cape, Western Australia.

Photograph: Ruchira Somaweera

[evening-bat]

Three new babies! <3

[lastingocean]

She made it! Wishing this hatchling all the best!

For turtle hatchlings,making it into the ocean is considered a huge first step.

A good number of hatchlings are predated upon by crabs,birds and in some cases pets on the beach.

In the nest, the eggs can be poached by humans or eaten by raccoons. While in the ocean ,larger predatory fish hunt them.

Once they get to the ocean ,hatchlings are rarely seen. Some swim around reefs and inshore areas closer to land while others swim in the open ocean ,moving with prevailing currents and living in seaweed whee they can find food.

[starb0oooy]

I'm going on a 3 day camping trip tomorrow to mist net for bats :3

[erythristicbones]

Helped a friend cross the road safely today C: it's a Florida Softshell Turtle!

[swirlingyouintomypoems]

Hey guys guys guys guys

It’s me!!!!!

[1296-very-good-year]

I am compelled to be annoying new mom just FYI....

Hatching season has begun 🙏❤️😭

[nature-scares-me]

helping little turtle hatchlings to get to the nearest pond (and away from the road)

rambling about turtles under the cut

You can say that maybe we shouldn't help them, and let nature take its course. But the problem is that so many of them just wander right into traffic, I see them flattened so often, it's such a shame. I picked these two up and a minute later a motorcycle passed right where they were sitting. Their population is significantly declining throughout their range due to people and vehicles.

It's amazing how many of them we have here though. Last fall we were hiking in this area and there were dug up and ravaged turtle nests all over the place, eggs eaten. Nice to see that some survived and succesfully hatched after all.