found nine baby turtles in sandbox - not moving

Question
we live in Raliegh NC and had a particularly cold winter. Today, march 21, 2010 we were playing in our sandbox and the kids dig up baby turtles already hatched and some of their shells were there...none of the turtles are moving and the area they were found was pretty hard packed and usually not dug in very often.  The turtles were found about 2 inches deep. They are not moving, but all limbs are out of their body, except for two turtles whose heads are not out...they don't move at all...they don't smell either, i am trying to find info on when they likely hatched as it doesn't seem usual they hatch in march, and could they be hibernating or are they simply dead...perhaps they couldn't dig out and they died last fall and were preserved in this spot over our cold winter...there is a pond just over the hill in our backyard and woods all around us, so the fact that a turtle laid them there is not that surprising but it seems a bit far for a nest, 700 yards or so... any info you may have would be helpful - i can't find anything online that is answering the questions.

Answer
Hey Beth,

I hate to say it but more than likely the hatchlings are dead.

Turtles, when in hibernation still move around some and respond to stimuli, so the fact that they aren't responding to anything would lead me to believe they have passed away.

It does happen more often than people realize that the hatchlings can't get out of the sand or dirt and essentialy sufficate. This often happens when there is a heavy rain fall that packs down the sand or, if there is something else that packs the sand down such as vechiles driving over it or people walking on it.

As for when they hatched, that is hard to say. Turtles decay very slowly when they have died. Often, when they die their limbs hang out of their shell. Dead turtles very rarely smell. I have come across many dead turtles in the wild in all various stages of decomposing and I have never actually smelled one that stunk like any other dead animal would.

As for how far away you are from a pond, never under estimate how far a turtle will go to find a nesting site. It is possible that it may have been some sort of box turtle which doesn't live exclusively in the water.

Hopefully this will help you some.

-Nicole