gestation

Question
What is the gestation of a painted turtle?

Answer
Hi EJ,

It would help if you could qualify your question.  Turtles don't have a gestation period, as they lay eggs.  If you mean the period of time from mating to egg laying, that can vary considerably, as females are able to retain sperm and lay when conditions are optimum.  If you mean incubation time for egg development, in the wild it's approximately 72-76 days, and with artificial incubation would be roughly the same.  Eggs incubated at higher temperatures (87 F) will produce predominately females, while eggs incubated at cooler temperatures (77 F) produce mostly males, and mid-range temperatures (84 F) produce both males and females.  If this doesn't answer your question, please post back!