Thanks for the responses - I'll take some more pictures of them when they are more active. With the heat (its 96 right now) they are nestled at the bottom of the pond where its cooler. Anne - not a stupid question at all - they do have unusually long necks, much longer than sliders, painteds, cooters, and other species. These guys actually do range all the way to New York, but they don't go very far south Look at Interstate I-80 which goes across much of the country, most of their populations are restricted north of that highway. They are in your neighboring states to Kentucky, such as Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, but are found mostly bordering the Great Lakes.

i dont understand.. why you planted a TREE .... and insist it be a shrub .... not that it cant be done ... but it ALWAYS will want to be a tree .... the simplest solution is to cut it down to within 6 inches of the soil ... at the proper time of year ... and it will resprout with multiple leaders ... i had one once that refused to be a tree.. so we kept doing that until it got itself sorted out to its treeness ... BUT IT IS ALWAYS GOING TO WANT TO BE A TREE ... yes there are methods to grow trees as shrubs .. but it will take multiple prunings per year .... FOREVER ... and that will have an impact on how it flowers ... if at all ... frankly.. if it were me.. i would let it be the small tree it wants to be .... and i would plant proper shrubs under it .... it would be much simpler.. and less work ... and if you did this.. you would prune it higher.. for the garden beneath .... the term to research .. as noted above is 'pollarding' ... its a pain in the behind... and i gave up on it long ago ... it is easier to admit the purchasing mistake.. rather than force it into what it refuses to be ... or you are the type who likes the challenge.. i respect that.. good luck ken Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.google.com/search?q=pollarding&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

My best guess is that it is an eastern three-toed box turtle. Try comparing yours to the linked photo. One thing I have learned since moving here is that all amimals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and insects do not match the general description for their type. There always are some that are atypical in appearance. For example, bobcats have quite a lot of variation in their coats and even in the length of their tails. Lady bugs are a great case in point. We have them in a whole rainbow of colors and I didn't know that until after we moved here. Grasshoppers are the same way. Just on our property we have them in various shades of green, brown, yellow, black and even red or orange. Who knew? I didn't. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Turtles of Oklahoma

I am sure she will lay more. The reason she laid the egg in the water bowl is because that was the only thing miost in the enclosure. I breed snakes and during this time I take out the water bowls to avoid this. She really needs a container with some moist sphagman moss or even moist dirt. Not wet by any means. After she lays them, bring them to a nature center. I wouldnt sugest trying to hatch them your self unless you have experience in this area. If you dont have a nature center near you, get some vermiculite at a gardening center and a ruber maid storage container. Mix the vermiculite 50-50 with water by weight using a gram scale and place the eggs in the mix. The eggs should be partially buried exposeing half the egg. Seal the container and place it in a dark area that stays a constant 80 degrees give or take a couple of degrees. Every 3 to 4 days let fresh air into the container. Some people do but dont poke holes into the container. This will result in fruit fly infestation and the moisture the eggs need will escape. Both will kill the eggs. The eggs should hatch in 60 to 80 days. After they hatch, let them go where you found the mother. The egg that was laid in water is probably drowned but try to keep it any way. If you leave the eggs with the mother ing the cage they will simply dry out. Good luck.