Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I never thought I would have this problem, but this year if all goes well, I am going to have too many hatchlings (I don't want to count my turtles before they hatch, but I want to be prepared). Has anyone ever released hatchlings in a state park or in the wild? The reason I thought of this option is because one of the clutches I have (and have not dug up) was laid by a turtle that someone thought they were rescuing from the road and brought to me. I returned her to where she was found the next day, but not before she laid eggs in the pen. I had too many eggs before this clutch, so now I don't know what I'm going to do with them and some of the others (all 4 of my girls have laid this year). Any suggestions as to what I could do with all those babies??

um, not to sound like a barbarian or some kind of non turtle lover, but why not just not let them hatch. dig them up and dispose of them. or dig them up and relocate them to the wild, since they were originally supposed to be wild in the first place.
releasing them is technically fiddling with natures balance, but if you relocate, there's natural chances they might not hatch. (predators, scavengers etc.) take one of your turtles that is laying now (if they are), let it dig a hole, and put the "rescued eggs" in it, so it has the right depth etc.
or like i said, just don't hatch em. it's better the baby turtles never existed then suffer from improper care due to lack of resources.
what kind of turtles are you hatching? i may be interested in some hatchlings if you need em taken off your hands. If you ship that is.
well, those are my ideas.
i tried

I you have an area that you KNOW is a native habitat for that particular species, I would think it would be ok to release them. I would find an area with plenty of cover (leaf litter, shrubs, etc) or they won't last long. Or you could sell or adopt out the hatchlings. I can't believe anyone would suggest destroying turtle eggs when it is known that wild box turtle populations are at risk and when it is known that the the pet trade puts a strain on those wild populations.
You can either release them to native habitat, in effect, headstarting a clutch of turtles in the wild, or you can adopt them out or sell them to people who want turtles, which in a small way is taking the pressure off wild populations (ie: the more captive bred turtles that are available, the less reason people have to go out and collect wild turtles for the pet trade. I wouldn't even consider relocating the nest, unless you relocate the eggs to a tub full of vermiculite in an incubator.

Release them, but do it a distance apart for each of them. That way if a predator discovers one, he won't eat them all.

or I'm wrong. I thought releasing would throw off the balance, but I guess I was wrong.
And the offer still stands to adopt some hatchlings, at a reasonable price.
by all means, release them if you want, but I do agree with the "taking the demand off the wild population" comment.
I apologize if my statement about not letting them hatch seemed out in left field, even though a large percentage of turtle eggs don't hatch anyway. (the female that laid them very well could've gotten hit by a car if his friend hadn't rescued it, so we are dealing with a batch of eggs with no true destiny.)
anyway, get back to me when they hatch.
-me

I don't actually keep any turtles but I know that in many states it is illegal to hatch captive born reptiles no matter what the species.

Wondering if that was a typo: did you mean to say its illegal to release captive bred hatchlings, or that its illegal to hatch captive bred reptiles period?