June 2011
Snapping turtle mother at my parent's home.


She traveled from the ponds near my parent's home and laid her eggs under a bush in their yard. Looks like there are going to be a lot of snapping turtles in the area in a few months. Make sure you wear shoes in the yard!

"Females travel over land to find sandy soil in which to lay their eggs, often some distance from the water. After digging a hole, the female typically deposits 25 to 80 eggs each year, guiding them into the nest with her hind feet and covering them with sand for incubation and protection. Incubation time is temperature-dependent, ranging from 9 to 18 weeks. In cooler climates, hatchlings overwinter in the nest." - wikipedia.org