Turtles Lay Eggs at Nature Center [Video]

Perhaps the snapping turtles at the heard that the CT DEP has proclaimed 2011 the . Four of them have been seen looking for appropriate spots to lay their eggs on the property, and staffers have witnessed two of the reptiles actually in the act (see video).

Director of Marketing Hilary Wittmann said a turtle laid her eggs in a spot on the walkway behind the visitors center on the Tuesday after Labor Day. A week later, a second turtle was seen laying eggs in the same spot.

“Apparently every year around this time but it seems that this year there have been many more sightings which the staff is really excited about,” Wittmann told Patch.

The nesting sight has been marked with caution tape to protect the eggs.

Julie Victoria, a biologist for the Wildlife Division of the CT DEP, said snapping turtles lay about 30 to 50 eggs at a time. The eggs will incubate for at least 89 days. 

“Since they don’t carry their eggs, they lay them in a sunny spot, and rely on the sun” she told Patch. “Snapping turtles lay the largest amount of eggs and quite a few will hatch. But few will survive.”

At birth the turtles are about the size of a quarter, Melanie Pearson, the Nature Center’s director of animal care said. Maybe 10 of the 30 to 50 will survive.

“They’re impossibly tiny and they have so many predators. Raccoons might come dig up the nest, or foxes or opossums,” she told Patch. Or they are eaten after they hatch. 

Pearson said sometimes the turtles hibernate through the winter and wait until the following spring to surface. Once she’s laid her eggs the mother is finished with her parental responsibilities. The babies are on their own from birth.

Pearson said she has been getting a lot of calls this year from homeowners who have seen turtles laying eggs in their gardens. Pearson recommends leaving the nest alone.

“If you go in and dig them up, you’re killing them,” she said.  

The full video can be seen on the Nature Center's Facebook page.