She carries more eggs

Last Monday, 15 days after the female laid, I palpated her inguinal and I felt eggs again. I haven't noticed behavioral changes, such as stop feeding or visiting the land area. As I always do when I palpate she carries eggs, I have a look at the land area in the evening, in case she is making the nest. Also,  every few days I palpate her.

These days we are having a heat wave and the maximum temperatures in the shadow are very close to 40ºC. Yesterday evening, at 21:00, we were 29ºC. This is more typical of the "canicula" (dog days) than June.  Fortunately the vegetation covers half of the pond creating shadow. I also have the measurement of last summer water temperatures in the hottest days, so, I don't think the terrapins are in danger. Every two days I add some water as the evaporation looses are important.

It is curious to see the behavior of some animals in these hot days. The terrapins are very inactive. On the other hand, Paper Wasps  (Polistes dominulus) are extremely active. They visit the pond in great numbers, looking for the water. They use it to thermo regulate their nests, cooling it through evaporation. They often stop on rocks or vegetation, but sometimes they land on the water taking advantage of the surface tension, the same way as pond skaters do. In the beginning I was concerned that the terrapins tried to eat them. Over time I have seen that they completely ignore them. I guess the aposematic coloration of wasps reminds them other wasp species native to their habitat and they "know" it is better not to disturb them.