Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know females dig holes to lay eggs, yet here and on the classified ads, there are pics of little turtle hatching in the air. How do you guys do it? Once the female lays her eggs, do you go dig them up, then put them in an incubator at proper temp and humidity?

Just curious,

Bill

Yes.

Is it easy to dig up eggs without harming them?

How humid, and how warm, is incubator air?

Yes, I dig up turtle eggs for a living...
The air in the incubator is however warm and humid you want it to be...
Cheers.

Well, how warm and humid for optimum health?

Well, you don't mention species and these variables depend on the species. I assume we're talking Box Turtles here. According to Tess' website, at 85°F the eggs should hatch in 65-90 days. You can incubate warmer or cooler than this depending on what sex ratios you're striving for. There aren't any hard and fast data on humidity, likely owing to the extreme variance that eggs experience in nature. I incubate eggs for my research in the natural beach sand they (non Box Turtle species) were laid in and very occasionally mist the surface of the sand - I get pretty darn close to a 100% hatch rate.