How to Tell If a Box Turtle Is Pregnant (with Video)

My Box turtle was acting a little strange lately so I did some research and talked to a vet and I found out that she is pregnant. In this article, I am going to share with you everything that I found out during my research and from my talk with the vet. After this article, you are going to be able to find out if your turtle is pregnant or not, and if she is what you have to do.

How can you tell if your turtle is pregnant? When a Box turtle is pregnant she will start to behave differently, there will be noticeable changes in her eating and basking habits, and in her general behavior. There will also be very small and subtle changes in her physical appearance.

Before getting into more details about the behavioral and visual signs that your turtle is pregnant I want to remind you that a turtle can lay eggs even if there is no male around. If there is no male around the eggs will not be fertilized, but there will still be eggs. Now let’s start with one of the most important and obvious things.

First Check If It’s a Boy or a Girl

I know that it might seem a little weird, but you really need to check this first. If your turtle is male then there is no chance of him being pregnant. Even if your turtle shows behavioral changes similar to a pregnant turtle, if it’s a boy it could mean something completely different.

So before proceeding with checking if your turtle is pregnant first make sure that it’s a female turtle and not a male turtle. If you don’t know how to check if your turtle is male or female check this article out: How to Tell If Your Turtle Is Male or Female.

Visual Signs

When it comes to mammals it’s usually really easy to tell just by looking if the female is pregnant or not, but with reptiles and other animals that lay eggs, it can be a little harder to tell just by looking. With turtles, it can be especially difficult since most of their body is covered with a hard shell.

So you won’t be able to tell if your Box turtle is pregnant just by looking, but there is still something that you can do. You can gently touch the lower part of the carapace and see if you feel small bumps, those bumps are the eggs inside the turtle, they are very hard to see but you can definitely feel them.

Before trying this technique with your turtle let me tell you that it can be very dangerous if you apply too much pressure, at this stage the eggs are extremely fragile and can easily break. If the eggs break it can be very dangerous for the turtle as well. So if you are not completely sure that you can do this with enough pressure then you should go to a veterinary cabinet and let them check. I personally think that it’s better to go to the vet than do it on your own. I went to the vet with my turtle to see if she is pregnant, and the vet also showed me how to correctly feel the eggs, without endangering the turtle.

Other than those small bumps that you can feel on the carapace there are no other visual signs. But there are a lot of changes in the behavior of the turtle. And usually, the changes in behavior will let you know that your turtle is pregnant before you might think to check its carapace.

Here is a video in case you need some visual aid:

Changes in Behaviour

In general, all changes in behavior mean that something is happening, it can mean that something bad is happening: the living quality of the tank has gotten worse, your Box turtle could be sick, or it can mean that something good is happening, for example, your turtle could be pregnant. So some of these signs can also point out something different, not only that your turtle is pregnant.

The eating habits of your Box turtle have changed. When a turtle is pregnant the number of foods that she eats will drastically change. Usually, a pregnant turtle will eat a lot less, or she won’t eat at all, the reason they do this is because they prefer to spend their time searching for a suitable nesting site, instead of eating. But there are a few turtles that like to overeat in a situation like this. While overeating is not the most common response of a turtle when she is pregnant, it can still happen, after all, every turtle is different from the rest, and they all have a different personality.

Your Box turtle will try to dig a lot. If your turtle is pregnant you might find her trying to dig in the substrate of the tank, or in the basking area. This is also something that they do try to find a good nesting site.

The basking habits of a pregnant turtle will also change. When a turtle is pregnant she will change her baking habits, she might end up not basking for days because she is trying to find a suitable place to lay the eggs.

A pregnant turtle will try to get out of the tank. When a turtle is pregnant she will do everything that she can to get out of the tank. She will try to dig holes, she will try to climb over, she will try to swim through the glass, everything that can be done she will do it. If your turtle is pregnant then you shouldn’t have to worry, this is normal, she is trying to find a good place where she can lay her eggs.

So if your turtle is showing all of those signs then you should try to feel the carapace, or even better go to the vet and let him check. And if your turtle is truly pregnant then you still have work to do.

What To Do If Your Turtle Needs to Lay Eggs

At this point, you basically have two options, and they all depend on your location and what season it is. If you live in a house with a yard and it’s warm outside then you can go outdoors, if you don’t have access to a yard or it’s cold outside then you should go indoors.

Outdoors

This is the simplest and usually the best way to do things. Make sure that your yard is secure and your turtle can’t leave it, or you can just make a smaller part of the yard secure and that should also be fine. After you are sure that your turtle has no way to escape you can take her outside and let her find a good spot in the yard to lay her eggs. If you want to help her find a place to lay her eggs faster then you should wet the ground before you let her out. Turtles usually choose to lay their eggs in places with wet earth. And if you use chemical fertilizers for your flowers or plants, you should try to keep the turtle away from them, it’s not good for their health.

The outdoors way is ideal because you don’t have to do too much and is much more similar to what happens when a turtle is pregnant in the wild. But the indoors way isn’t bad for the turtle in any way, and even if it’s not as easy as the outdoors method, it’s still very simple.

Indoors

For this method you are going to need:

Mix the organic soil with some sand and then fill about two-thirds of the container with the mixture. The container has to be a big one, otherwise, the turtle will feel trapped in and won’t feel comfortable enough to lay the eggs. And try to avoid any kind of pesticides or fertilizers, they are bad for the turtle.

After you put the mixture in the container spray some water over the soil until it’s a little moist, after that partially cover the container with the lid, this way the turtle will have a lit area and a slightly dimmer area where she can lay the eggs.

Before placing the turtle in the container make sure that the temperature of the room is not too cold or too hot, and that there are no other people around or other animals that can disturb the turtle. Now you can safely place the turtle in the container and wait for her to lay the eggs. It should take her between 2 and 3 hours to lay all the eggs. You can try to look at her while she is doing this but she might feel intimidated and won’t lay any eggs, if that is the case then you should leave her alone.

Even if the whole process of laying the eggs can take between 2 and 3 hours, your turtle might have a specific time of the day when she wants to lay her eggs, so the best thing that you can do is to place the container in a well naturally lit room, and leave her the entire day at her disposal, some turtles might want to lay their eggs in the morning, some during the night.

Now let’s see what you can do with the eggs.

What to Do With the Eggs

Now that the eggs have been laid you basically have two options, and which one you will choose depends if the eggs are fertilized or not, and the time you have at your disposal.

The simplest way to know if the eggs are fertilized or not is this:

Did your female turtle interact with a male turtle recently?

No. In that case, the eggs are probably not fertilized, after all, you need a male turtle to fertilize the eggs.

Yes. Then there is a good chance that the eggs are fertilized.

What to do if the eggs are not fertilized

If the eggs are not fertilized then you can just throw them away, no babies will come out of them at this point. Or you can always try to eat them, I personally haven’t tried them but I heard that they taste similar to chicken eggs. If the eggs are fresh you can safely cook and eat them if you want.

So if the eggs are not fertilized no baby turtle will come out of them so you can basically do whatever you want with them.

What to do if the eggs are fertilized

At this point, you have two options.

Option 1. If you don’t have the time to take care of the eggs you can just throw them away. Not everybody has the time to take care of turtle eggs, and then baby turtles, so it’s completely understandable if you don’t want to keep them.

Option 2. If you want you can always incubate the eggs. The process is not very difficult but you will have to do a few things to make sure that the eggs will hatch. But taking care of turtle eggs is another subject that I’ve already covered in another article. If you want to keep the eggs or you are just curious how you can take care of turtle eggs then check out this article: How to Take Care of Turtle Eggs.

Conclusion

I hope this article was helpful and that your turtle will be fine and have an easy pregnancy.

If you have any questions you can leave them in the comment section and I will answer them as soon as possible.

And in case you are worried about your turtle, the best advice that I can give you is to take it to the vet, while I can give you general advice it’s better if a pro sees your turtle in person.