Snapping Turtles are powerful, enduring and delightful creatures that have been around for millions of years. Their evolution occurred earlier than other turtles and their rugged design hasn’t changed since. While the common snapping turtle has a wide distribution and strong numbers, in northern portions of the United States there can be merely 1-5 snappers per hectacre. Numbers within the southern United States can be more promising and have as many as 65 snapping turtles per hectacre. The alligator snapping turtle, on the other hand, is considered threatened and is protected by law in numerous states. The snapping turtle in fact, can lay clutches of 20-50 eggs, but only about 133 of every 1,300 eggs survive to depart the nest. Out of those 133 hatchlings, just 1 will survive to adulthood. Most eggs and hatchlings fall victim to predation within the first 36 months of life, if not before they even hatch. What some groups do is protect the nests and capture hatchlings when they climb out. These hatchlings will then be raised for about 3 years and released to the wild or just transported to the nearest lake safely.
The hardest part of conserving and studying snapping turtle nests is, by far, finding a nest. Snapping turtles lay eggs on dry land, away from flood planes. Often it is about 100-500 meters from the female’s usual habitat, but sometimes it can be up to a mile away. Quite often we have seen these turtle nests in odd placesalong the lines of front lawns, man-made mulch trails, gravel along the shoulder of roads, and even loose gravel driveways. Between lawn mowers, foot traffic, and car tires, these turtles usually are not stacking the odds of survival in their favor. I personally have raised snapping turtle hatchlings that I have found trying to cross 3 or 4 roads to get to a water source that would seem to be a 2 day marathon for the little hatchling.
Locating a snapping turtle nest
*Knowing when: Snapping turtles dig their nest and lay eggs in May and June. If you are stalking for a nest, you need to begin at the begining of May. (We’ll explain in a bit) If you will be scouting for a nest, this can be done through July and August.
*Scouting for a nest: This is the hardest and the most unsuccessful means of finding a nest. This involves pacing the perimeter of a portion of a pond or lake, starting at about 40 yards out and incrementally moving farther from the water. Doing a complete sweep of a section of land, be on the lookout for a circle, about 10 inches in diameter, of loose, tilled up dirt. This is often on high ground in grassy spots, leafy spots, mulch, sometimes slightly recessed. See how this can be difficult? It could be anywhere up to a mile away from water.
*Stalking for a nest: This is time consuming, but can be relaxing and very effective. Right as the snapping turtles are getting ready to begin nesting, simply sit back in your lawn chair and your binoculars and observe turtle behavior at a pond or lake. Spending your evenings observing turtles leaving the water to go on land, you can stay a good distance away and watch the turtle dig the nest. If you can, stick around and see if she begins laying the eggs because sometimes they just dig nests to test out the spot. If it is a backyard pond, ideally you can even get some cameras pointing out the back porch for some of the time you can’t be there observing.
When you know the nesting location, do not dig up the nest unless you are very skilled at taking care of turtle eggs. The embryos adhere to the top side of the egg shell and rolling them over will kill them. Not to mention needing to incubate the eggs even if you do successfully transport them. The safest way for you to capture the hatchlings is to create a fine mesh box that you’ll set over the nest without disturbing it. Starting in mid August, begin checking the mesh cage one or two times a day, everyday. If a few hatchlings emerge, remove them and place the mesh box back over the nest till you are certain that all viable eggs have hatched.
The source for turtle facts and tortoise facts.