Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all:
I usually spend my time on the box turtle forum, but this morning I salvaged some eggs from a female river cooter that had been hit and killed by a car. This occurred adjacent to a park, and I have already arranged with the park staff to release any of the hatchlings.

I'm wondering if any of you have experience with egg incubation of this species and can give me info on incubation temperature ranges and time period.

I have plenty of experience with Eastern box turtle eggs and own a couple of Hovabators, so I'm lacking equipment.

Thanks in advance!

StephF

According to Turtles of the US and Canada, temps between 22.5 and 30 C produce successful young of P. c. floridana, with the low end temps producing all males; eggs hatched in 62-70 days at 30 C, 66-69 days at 25 C, and 70-120 days at 22.5-25 C.

The only info given for temp of P. c. concinna is that eggs incubated at 22.5 C approached term after 161-166 days,but hatchlings had many deformities; eggs incubated at some other unspecified temperature hatched in 84-92 days.

All of this seems very similar to the relevant info for red-eared sliders, so any instructions you can find for their incubation should be applicable to the cooter eggs as well.

Good luck!

Thanks!

And DOH! Should've said I'm NOT lacking equipment.

Since I first posted I've been able to find out more on the subject, so I think that I'm good to go. We'll see what happens!

Thanks again.

StephF