Turtlesinger, Inc.


is a Federal 501(c)3 Public Charity - New Jersey Charities Registration # CH2998200
Mission Statement: To educate and entertain the public about turtles with original songs and/or live turtles.



December 8, 2025



We named her “Debbie”



Debbie was named after a woman who reminded us of a dear departed friend named Debbie. This woman helped Debbie cross the road right in front of our house and Debbie started laying her eggs right away in the dirt under a bush (the one with the Christmas lights this year!) on June 11th, the day of the Strawberry Full Moon. She was the 3rd turtle in our yard that morning and it was only 9:13 a.m.! Debbie laid 10 eggs.


Look for the 2 barnacles on either side of Debbie’s shell! We carefully removed them for her, something we learned to do from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, when we spent a night with them working with green and hawksbill sea turtles that included removing barnacles from their shells.


Want to see one of her hatchlings? Just SCROLL DOWN…



December 8, 2025



Debbie’s Hatchlings



Debbie’s 10 eggs started hatching on September 28th after a rainy night. They were on the small side and also not as energetic, possibly because they had to work harder than the other hatchlings from our sand pile to dig up through the dirt and the roots at their nest site.


You can see the hole the hatchlings dug to get out, and even a piece of eggshell toward the bottom of the photo.


To see the 7th advent sea turtle ornament, SCROLL DOWN…



December 8, 2025



The Seventh Day of December



On the 7th day of December, we found an ornament of a turtle with a Halloween pumpkin basket filled with Christmas candy!


Looks like this little turtle recycled his Halloween candy container! Reduce, Re-use, Recycle: Sea turtles are terribly affected by ocean trash they mistake for food (like jellyfish) which kills them. The Marine Mammal Stranding Center tells of a 2016-lb. leatherback sea turtle that ingested one plastic bag and was killed because the bag prevented any further food from reaching its stomach. So, isn’t it great we can pick up trash on our nearby beaches to help sea turtles?


To see the 7th diamondback terrapin to lay eggs in our yard, SCROLL DOWN…



December 8, 2025



We named her “Karen”



I saw this terrapin on the north side of our road and carried her across: so I named her after me! We think she was afraid of Charlie who was securing another nest at the time she started digging a nest, so she abandoned it but finally dug another nest: way to go, Karen! We saw 7 terrapins on our property that day, June 11th, and it was the time of the Strawberry Full Moon.


Look at the size of the barnacle on Karen’s shell! We removed it for her, too.


Karen’s eggs have yet to hatch! They may have been infertile, or they may hatch in the spring…a mystery!


Since we don’t have any of Karen’s hatchlings to show you, we’ll instead show you one of the predators checking out our turtle nests! SCROLL DOWN…



December 8, 2025



A Little Stinker!



This little stinker checked out our sand pile. Good thing Charlie does such a good job protecting the nests way down into the sand with his turtle exclosures! Skunks are good diggers, and protecting the nests far down helps discourage them.


We also cannot keep track of ALL the terrapins that nest in our sand pile, so predators can find other nests on our sand pile we don’t even know about, not to mention all the unprotected nests up and down Stone Harbor Boulevard on both sides of the road!


To see the 8th advent sea turtle ornament, SCROLL DOWN…



December 8, 2025



The 8th Day of December



On the 8th day of December, we found this ornament: a sea turtle with a Christmas stocking!


Believe it or not, we have a very small Christmas stocking for our tortoise, Gracie, hanging on our mantel right now! It was gifted to us from a fellow turtle owner and admirer of Gracie. To see it and read all about Gracie’s stocking, read our December 18, 2020 blog!


To see the 8th diamondback terrapin to lay eggs in our yard, SCROLL DOWN…



December 8, 2025



We named her “Nova”



Nova was a surprise, and the name means “signaling a bright, new beginning.” I discovered her halfway through the nesting process when I looked out our kitchen window on June 13th. Our ramp cam showed she had come up our turtle ramp! Nova would lay 11 eggs.


Even more exciting was the fact that we scanned her and found she had a Wetlands Institute tag! Here you can see the scanner we use and Nova’s special number that came up when we scanned her. After looking up her number, the Institute told us she was first captured on June 11, 2024 right on Stone Harbor Boulevard and then found again this year on June 13th, also on Stone Harbor Boulevard: she loves our road!


Want to see 1 of her hatchlings? Just SCROLL DOWN…



December 8, 2025



Nova’s Hatchlings



Here was yet another nest that had been flooded by the moon and Hurricane Erin offshore (that brought 10 inches of water into our garage)! These hatchlings may have emerged at this time due to the flooding of their nest, and as you can see here, this hatchling cannot wait to leave the nest!


Thanks for celebrating Advent and the 6th, 7th and 8th days of December with our sea turtle advent calendar AND our celebration of the turtles that were laid and hatched in our yard! We’ll be sharing more days of December and this past terrapin season with you…thanks for reading!





Contact Us:



turtlesinger@hotmail.com | Phone: (609) 205-9248