Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anyone seen wood turtles breed in the fall?? i have a group of them and just today noticed my male copulating with a female. I havent seen this before except for the springtime. I'm not new to this in case anyone is wondering. I keep them outside in an enclosed garden pond area. Do they breed now and just retain sperm for the spring like box turtles??? If i bring in the female that bred will she lay viable eggs in 2 months???

mike

I wouldn't mess with your girl's reproductive schedule. She should be able to lay fertile eggs in the spring. In my experience, Wood turtle females lay eggs at a certain time of year regardless of when they mate.

I used to trout fish at a stream in PA where there was a nice population of Wood turtles. The turtles brumated communally in a certain part of the stream. In the spring, they'd all lay around on the banks. They'd sun themselves mostly, but the males would spend a lot of time in the water biting at each other, giving each other the "Wood turtle stare", and chasing the girls. They'd disappear for most of the summer. Then, they'd gather again in the fall and do the same thing as in the spring. I never saw actual copulation, but the males would certainly chase after the females with equal gusto in the fall.

Hope this helps.

I'll second ken on that one. Don't bring her inside if it means changing her normal biological clock and habitat. But yes, just like in ken's experiences, i have also witnessed wild wood turtles mating in the spring, summer, and fall. Male wood turtles in particular spend a great deal of time around their home water bodies and will take the chance to mate whenever they can get it. If you do notice that these frequent attempts to mate is stressing out your females you might want to separate them for a period. I had a friend whose female NA wood died due to the male stressing her out. Back to the viability, females can retain this sperm until the next year, but also remember that observed mating does not always guarantee fertilization and clutches of eggs, so removing her from her outdoor environment to indoors just for the chance that she might lay eggs is not recommended. Your best bet is to let this natural fall compulation continue as well as into the spring if you are looking for clutches next summer. It should increase your chances of viability!

Good luck,

-JG

Thanks alot .............

Just to let you know were I go trout fishing in PA I have seen wood turtles mating in late september-october. Three years ago in the last week of september I found two mating on a bike trail.

North American Wood Turtles have been known to breed agressivley in the fall. I have yet to really hear of what the reason for this is but with my group every fall the males literally attack the females. I have observed more breeding in fall with captive colonies than in spring. It seems once the air chills a bit, the animals begin to breed. I had a male just yesterday latch onto a female and she even pulled him out of the water and continued to walk around with him on her back. Wood turtles along with spotted, bog and blandings turtles, have been known to favor cooler weather. I have seen this proven several times with both my woods and spotteds. They are the very last of my turtles to enter hibernation, and they are the firsts to wake up in spring. In the fall I call it "cluster" breeding because my males all enter the water and wait for a female to drop in. As soon as one does, they boldly jump on her. Of course the bigger the male, the luckier he gets. One of my males is a very large bull male that we call "Jack" due to his intense orange color much like that of a "Jack-O-Lantern". He is so much bigger than any of the other males so he pretty much gets what he wants. While he is pursuing one female this is the other boys'chances to find their own females. This goes on well into October and not until it really starts to get cold do they stop.

It is important that you keep your female on a set cycle. Like stated before, wood turtles lay eggs at a certain time of year pretty much no matter what. This is like many other turtles of the mid-atlantic region. Hibernation is very important for these animals and it does condition them for breeding and being productive through it. I have had animals lay eggs without hibernation but the success rate was much lower when compared to hibernated individuals. I let all my woods cool naturally outside before I finally put them in their artificial hibernaculums.