In 20 years, I've only seen Eastern box turtles nest from the hours of about 2pm until 3am. In all of this time, I've never found suprise hatchlings, but I did find a nest VERY late in the year. This was long after I had stopped making my nightly trip out to the pens to look for nesters. Now, I'm not home every night, so I have a trick. It's not new, and I'm sure others use this method also. I sprinkle white smooth sand on the area where the turtles always seem to lay. I have red clay where I live now, and my pen in NJ had black dirt(oh, I miss it so). I lay it about an inch or so thick, and reapply when they trample over it until the clay shows. Any nests that I've missed glow like a beacon using this method. Plus, the addition of sand to this clay really helps with drainage issues.

I've only been breeding other species for a short time, so I can't give you very reliable information about them. I will tell you that it seems like ornata and luteola prefer to nest in the morning. As I recall, you have Easterns anyway.

After living in South Jersey, I will give you a warning. Watch for ants! If you missed a nest, there's a good chance that the ants will find it for you! I don't know what it was about up there, but sometimes I would leave the nest be for a while until I really had the time to get the eggs set up. It took the ants only about 12 hours to locate the nests and begin digging! My pens were set up in the same spot for my entire childhood, so I'm sure that the ants used it as their major food source. You may not have that type of trouble with a new setup. Good luck!

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