Reptile & Amphibian Forums

last year I had a three toed female start digging just before dark and started laying around 11:30 at night. She dug her nest chamber with her hind legs. Tonight I have a ornate female that started digging around 9:00pm and it's 10:07 and she is still digging in the dark. She is digging face first with her front legs. Just curious if anybody has had a female dig a nest face first, nose dive style. Thanks for your time. Mark Miles. By the way I left last years clutch in the ground and all 6 eggs hatched in 81 days. Thanks again.

Your turtle is not digging a nest face first. She may be after grubs or worms instead.

Thank you Steph. I just have never noticed any activity after dark. The only activity I have ever witnessed after dark was last years egg lay. These box turtles are funny, alot of times they are sleeping right up against my Aldabras. Thanks again!! Mark

Interesting question. I observed a female ornate digging face-first into a sandy area I constructed for egg-laying. She dug herself completely under - about 3-4 inches deep. This was just before sundown. I dug her up to see what was happening, and found nothing except her - no eggs.

Two nights later, she was digging down into the sand face-first for about an hour, then abruptly stopped and moved away for the night.

The next night, she nested in the exact same area as the first two "test-runs" and dug the normal way. I think the first two face-first digging episodes were testing the ground to see if it was suitable for nesting.

I have never seen this done before, so I found your similar observation interesting.

Ornates will nest WITHIN burrows, but while the burrow may be excavated with front feet, and be used for staying cool, any actual nest will be dug with rear feet.