My turtle has recently laid some eggs, she is a red eared slider and she laid 20 eggs, which seemed a lot to me for a turtle. This got me wondering how many eggs do other turtle species lay, so I decided to do some research. Here is what I found out.
How many eggs do turtles lay? The amount of eggs that a turtle will lay depends on its species, here is a list of how many eggs certain turtle species lay:
- Red eared slider turtles: 10 to 30 eggs
- Box turtles: 3 to 9 eggs
- Snapping turtles: 20 to 40 eggs
- Mud turtles: 2 to 5 eggs
- Green sea turtles: 100 to 120 eggs
- Flatback turtles: 50 to 60 eggs
- Leatherback turtles 100 to 120 eggs
The number of eggs that a turtle will lay varies greatly based on its species, as you can see sea turtles will lay a lot more eggs than aquatic turtles, but why is that. There are a lot of reasons why this happens and most of them are very tied to survival, so in the rest of the article, we are going to take a closer look at the reasons and factors that influenced turtles to lay such a diverse number of eggs.
Biological Reasons
Every successful species, that lays eggs, had at some point to trade off the number of eggs that it will be able to lay for the size of the eggs themselves. This is because there is a limited amount of eggs that a female can carry.
A turtle egg is not only a shell that will protect the embryo until it’s fully developed, it also contains a lot of nutrients that will allow it to develop. So if the egg is too small there won’t be enough nutrients inside to allow the embryo to fully develop. Turtles will still rely on the nutrients of the egg even after they hatch, they will have a small yolk sack, from the egg, that is attached to their carapace that will feed them through their first weeks of life until they are able to find their own food. So even if the turtles have enough nutrients in the egg to develop is not enough, they will still need some more to be able to survive the first weeks.
On the other hand, if the eggs are too big, then it just wasteful. While the turtles will be able to hatch without any problem and they would be able to survive enough time to be able to procure their own food, the amount of space used by the eggs would be unnecessary.
Scientists believe that there is a perfect egg size for any species, but for a species to reach that point, it will take them a very long time. It takes multiple generations that will lay a different number of eggs until the perfect balance is found. But there are also a lot of external factors that will influence this balance, so with the effects we humans have on every habitat it’s hard to imagine that the perfect balance will be achieved too soon. When I talk about our influences over environments I don’t mean exclusively the bad influences, I also mean the good influences as well. There are a lot of areas where we helped the vegetation grow back after natural disasters, kept under control harmful animal and insect populations, and a lot more. Even if those are good things they still influence the balance of things.
One other important biological factor is the size of the turtle species also plays a major role. After all, we can’t expect a small red eared slider turtle to be able to hold hundreds of eggs like a giant leatherback turtle is able to.
This covers most of the biological factors that come into play when it comes to the number of eggs that a turtle will lay, now let’s talk about the external factors which play a major role.
External Factors
All living species, this also includes us, will have more offspring when the conditions are harder. This is the natural way to respond when there aren’t too many things that you can do to help them. So the logic is: if I have more offspring at least some of them will have the chance to survive, and this is a perfectly logical argument, the more chances you have the bigger the odds of succeeding.
If we were to compare the general conditions that aquatic turtles, like the box turtles, mud turtles, and red eared sliders, have to endure compared to the conditions most sea turtles have to endure we can definitely see why it’s perfectly normal for sea turtles to lay hundreds of eggs every year, while the aquatic turtles only lay around 20 to 30 eggs each year.
For a steady population to exist a female turtle should have two baby turtles that will reach adulthood, one boy and one girl, during its lifetime. It doesn’t seem like much, but most sea turtles’ populations are in decline.
The loggerhead sea turtle will lay around 500 eggs each year, compared to that the box turtle will lay between 3 and 9 eggs. Both their species are neither declining nor increasing, they are steady. If the loggerhead turtle were to lay fewer eggs their population will start decreasing until they reach extinction, and if the box turtles will lay more eggs they will overpopulate their habitats. Most turtle species have a pretty good balance between the size of the eggs and their numbers, so there is no problem with that, the problem comes from external factors. Now let’s take a closer look at some of these factors.
Natural Predators
Turtles have a lot of predators, and they are at their most vulnerable point during their first few weeks of life. Very few baby turtles reach adulthood and this is because most of them fall prey to predators, and the more predators are in the area the more eggs they have to lay. Most aquatic turtles live in relatively safe areas where they have a fair chance at survival so turtles don’t need to lay too many eggs. On the other hand, sea turtles are attacked by predators as soon as they leave the nest. Nesting areas are usually filled with birds that wait for the babies to leave their nests.
Turtles are also very vulnerable while they are in the egg. A lot of animals eat raw eggs, and turtle eggs are no exception. Usually, turtles do their best to lay the eggs in a safe place where the predators won’t be able to find them, but of course, predators also have a good idea where to look for them, and since most turtle species don’t stay to protect the eggs, they are very vulnerable at this moment.
So a good way to know how safe is a habitat for a turtle is to just look at the number of eggs that they lay, the more eggs they have to lay, the more dangerous the habitat is if they lay fewer eggs than it means that the area is relatively safe.
If you want to know more about turtle predators check out this article: What Are the Predators of Turtles? , after you are done with this one.
Environmental conditions
The environmental conditions also affect the number of eggs that a turtle will lay. If the area has favorable conditions then the babies have a higher chance of reaching adulthood, so there don’t need to be so many eggs. But if the conditions are very bad, the turtles will have to lay as many eggs as possible so that at least a couple of them will survive and reach adulthood.
Climate change
The gender of a turtle is determined by the temperature that the eggs were exposed to while the embryos were developing. If the temperature is hotter then there will be more female turtles, if the temperature is colder that there will be more male turtles. At the moment temperatures are rising so more female turtles are born than male turtles. So to counter this problem most turtles have to lay more eggs so they have more chances to have more males so that they are able to continue to reproduce.
Related Questions
How long does it take for turtle eggs to hatch after being laid? It depends on the species but in general, the eggs should hatch after 60 to 90 days.
Why do turtles leave their eggs? Turtles, like all most reptiles, don’t have a maternal instinct, and as a result, they leave their eggs after they are done laying them.
Are turtle eggs soft? Different species of turtles lay different types of eggs, most of them are hard-shelled, but some of them have a leather-like texture.
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Today I was moving wood mulch that was several years old (broken into dirt) and saw a small white ping pong ball. Of course it turned out to be a white turtle egg. As I looked further I found about 20 more that had been exposed along with older shells that were decaying. Had I known I could have stopped moving the pile but they were high in the pile and by the time I found them all they had been moved extensively. A few had dents, but only one was “torn.” (The eggs were leathery.) I collected them in a bucket of the mulch/dirt. The torn one actually had a small clawed foot moving outside the shell and did not appear injured. I transferred them to “clean” moist potting soil as the mulch had hundreds of ants. What now? I have the capability to incubated them. Should they be “oriented?” They are dark and heavy on the bottom and seem to be “weighted” that way. What species? I am in southern PA. Today is 8/12/19. Temperature is in the 80’s. Time is of the essence! Thanks
Hello Wayne, from what you are describing I am not able to determine the exact condition of the eggs, but let me tell you what you should do, hoping that the eggs are in a good condition. The most important thing is to make sure that you place them the correct way, the weighted part should definitely be at the bottom. I covered in a lot more detail how to take care of turtle eggs, how to incubate and how to handle them in this article: How to Take Care of Turtle Eggs.
About the species, my first guess would be that they are common snapping turtle eggs, but at the moment the species is not that important. Snapping turtles usually lay between 20 and 50 eggs, while other turtles, like the wood turtles only lay around 10. You can find a complete list of the turtle species that live in PA right here: Native Turtles of Pennsylvania (with Pictures).
The temperature is OK, as long as it doesn’t go over 95. When the temperature goes over 95 the eggs could spoil.
I hope this will help you, If you have any other questions don’t hesitate to ask. Good luck taking care of the eggs.
Thanks Turtle Expert. We commonly see turtles of all types on our property which has been inhabited (with springs, ponds, mill races, and various other water features) for over 200 years. Almost every year we find a snapper along our fairly small spring. I rescue them and take them to the Schuylkill River. Haven’t seen one this year. The decaying mulch pile is five feet high and 50 feet long. The eggs were buried at the top where heavy weeds had overgrown it. I was using a backhoe to fill in washed out places due to the rains. Anyway, the 25 eggs that I found look exactly like the eggs on this website – dents and all. I’m praying that the eggs were mature enough that the roll down the dirt didn’t affect any small blood vessels. I’m basing it in the small foot that came out of an egg and was moving. I put that egg back in with the others. (Or should I remove it and attempt a turtleoscopy?) Thanks again. I will read your articles.
Hi Turtle Owner Team. Well it looks like the little roll downhill for my eggs only awakened the little guys. I had seven busting out around 1:00pm. Just checked a few minutes ago and it appears a few more are “pippin” out. I’m guessing that the “roll” earlier than a week or so ago would have injured them. I’m glad that I didn’t start the gully filling earlier. It has been on the project list for a month. Anyway, I’ll keep you updated as I move to the “raising” stage. Any other thoughts from you are welcomed by me. I really don’t know diddly about raising turtles, but I just finished making sure four baby bunnies survived. (We have cats, hawks, foxes and assorted other predators.) Thanks. Wayne
I am really glad to hear that things worked out. For more in depth advice I have this article that you can check out, it covers most things that you should know about raising baby turtles: How to Take Care of Baby Turtles. Besides the article I can tell you that you shouldn’t rush to put the baby turtles in water, just make sure that they have a way to reach it when they feel ready.
One small concern that I have is that at the moment there are 4 turtles which is a somewhat manageable number, but if you go over that number it will be quite hard to take care of all of them.
If they are snapping turtles it will also be quite hard since they are a lot more aggressive than most turtles, you can find an article about this right here: Are Snapping Turtles Dangerous? (with Bite Facts and Videos).
If you don’t want to keep them forever, than you should release them as soon as possible. The longer a turtle stays in captivity, the harder it will be for it to adapt to the wild. In general I would say that releasing pet turtles into the wild is the worst possible thing for them, bust since we are talking about very young turtles, who aren’t accustomed to live as pets, it is alright to release them. Again, you can find more info about this topic here: Can Pet Turtle Survive in the Wild?
If you want and you have the possibility to keep them for a few days, that would be OK for the turtles, especially because they are very vulnerable when they are this young. But keeping them for a couple years and then releasing them will actually be bad for the turtles.
Young turtles prefer meat more than anything else, this is because they need the protein to grow. But it’s also possible that they won’t eat it because they still might have their yolk sack attached. The yolk sack remains attached to the turtles belly and provides them nutrients for a few days after they are born. Here you can see a picture. But as I said it might not always be the case.
As for the predators that you have nearby, unfortunately I can’t give you any other advice, besides try to keep them away from the turtles.
As for the rest of the eggs, I would suggest you to leave them and hope for the best. Trying to help the turtles get out is not indicated.
Again, I am really glad to hear that things are working out for you and the turtles. If you have any questions, or you feel that you don’t completely understand any part of any article, leave a comment and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
I’m back. Update for 2/6/20. I ended up with 28 eggs. I put them under a lamp in a potting soil mixture. A few days later they began hatching. I ended up with 28 snapping turtles. I raised them in a small tank for three months until the end of October when I released 21 small turtles back into our pond and the creek where I have found 6 fully grown snapping turtles over the years. I kept 7 turtles in a foot of water in a small aquarium in our greenhouse. I installed an aquarium heater, water filter, basking light, greenery and large pieces of bark from a downed willow tree. The water is changed, the aquarium cleaned and an antibacterial is added weekly. They are fed floating reptile/amphibian pellets twice daily. And they are thriving! They are 4 – 5 times larger and much heavier than five months ago. Their skin tone, shell color and head/legs all appear to be healthy as are their eyes. And they behave exactly like their full-grown relatives. (Yes, they do bite me when I put my fingers near the water. Of course their bite is too weak to make any difference now.) I grew up around snapping turtles in the South. They were everywhere and were interesting to watch when fishing. There were lots of water snakes and water moccasins as well. When the weather warms in the spring I will release them hopefully large enough to have better odds of surviving.