Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Eggs were laid on July 24, and my question is will they still hatch now that it is getting cooler? Should I unearth them and bring them inside? Thanks. (Pittsburgh)

Personally, if they have been in the ground this long - I'd leave them alone. Nature has been producing turtles this old fashioned way for quite some time. I incubated several nests this year at 80-84 degrees with hatch times ranging from 56 to 71 days. Yours are now at 55 days and temps up there are probably dropping - pushing the incubation time maybe up to 80 days, which would have them hatching well into October, or later.

I'd leave them where they are, but expect emergence sometime next spring. (But then again, I am not familiar with Pitt weather, so what do I know?)

Good luck whatever you decide.

Thanks! I'll leave them be and hope for the best.

If you have successfully incubated eggs in the past, you may want to bring them in and finish the incubation indoors. If you leave them in the ground it might help to give them some added protection from excessive cold or wet weather this winter. You could add a foot of leaf mulch over the nest area if the hatchlings do not emerge by the first frost. Good luck!
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Tess Cook
www.boxturtlesite.info

Thanks, Tess. I have never incubated eggs, so I am leery of bringing them in. On the other hand, Pittsburgh winters can be brutal, so I'm nervous about leaving them outdoors. My other other 4 (adult) turtles hibernated well last year. Chris