Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How long after mating can a female Box Turtle have viable fertilized eggs? .. i want to know ahead of time so if i see any i can place them somewhere to hatch .. i would rather have more turtles on my hands than let some males genes from the wild not be carried on .. knowing how limited these turtles are in the wild

In your case, any time from RIGHT NOW to never. Since they store sperm, spring matings can happen right before laying or not at all, and the female can still lay fertile eggs. Mating doesn't necessarily coincide with development of eggs as it would in other species. This being the case, normally in the wild spring breeding produces early summer eggs. If you are anywhere near my location (west of chapel hill), you can expect to see egg laying behavior around late june to mid july in normal years. I'm not sure if this years odd weather and excess rain is going to have an effect on it or not. My female easterns are not gravid yet this year at all, so I would suspect either they are taking a vacation or the weather is effecting breeding.

when the turtle calms down a little bit maybe i will have to check her for eggs .. since shes in a 50 gallon tub i want to make sure that i find any that she lays so she doesnt acidently dig them up or move them

when I moved last year to our new house I had to put all my turtles into tubs for a few weeks while I waited for the fencing to be done and I built their pens in the yard. It was RIGHT at laying time, and my gals were pretty stressed, but they laid okay. I kept palping them and when one was empty I completely removed all the dirt, bit by bit, until I had checked every bit to make sure I got any eggs (sometimes they will drop eggs in multiple nests or partially covered, etc, especially if stressed). Then I'd set it back up and wait for the tub-mate to lay her eggs. It was a lot of work and time, but it did get us through until we had the pens built in the yard (and a big *PHEW* after that was finaly done!)

Did they hide deep into the soil and then lay eggs?.. she dug pretty far doen into the dirt then came up to the surface and started peeping her head out *lol*

no, that's just hiding. Nesting is done from the surface. Often you will see some front leg scraping and sniffing of the soil, then a settling in with the rear legs over the spot. Rear legs dig the nest (one painfully slow scoop of soil with the alternating rear feet at a time). Eggs are then laid, positioned with the feet, and the nest re-filled and packed down.

*G* thanks .. i think my little girl is calming down more she is only hiding in her little flower pot now instead of deep in the dirt