i found turtle eggs

Question
i found turtle eggs in my mulch pile and i dont know if i should take them becuase we have a lake at the end of the road. but its at least 10 houses away and like hard to get to for baby turtles. also we have a very active driveway and turtles could easily get run over. what should i do?

Answer
Hi Shannon,

If you move the eggs, you risk damaging the embryo inside.  If you move them, you will have to move them one at a time very slowly, and make sure that the egg stays in the exact same position you found it in... meaning the side that was "up" will have to stay up, and you will have to keep it at the same angle you found it in.  Even the walking could damage the eggs, and it would be difficult to re-bury them in the same position they were found in.  Usually eggs are only moved if you are moving them to an incubator, so I wouldn't move them at all.

Instead, you will want to enclose the area so that when the turtles hatch, they can't go anywhere (or get eaten by anything!) and you can then move the baby turtles by hand.

Here is a link about protecting box turtle nests (it would apply to water turtle nests too)

http://www.marietta.edu/~mcshaffd/boxt/eggs.html

Make sure sunlight can reach the top of the ground, so that proper temperatures are reached and the environment is not altered in any way (ie. don't use a plastic container to cover it).  Make sure the gaps in whatever wire you use are small enough so that the turtles don't get stuck trying to get out, and so that small mice cannot squeeze their way in.

Check it every morning and evening, if you can.  That way, if they hatch in the morning they won't spend all day in the cage, and if they hatch in the evening, predators won't be trying to break through the cage and eat them.

Good luck!

Amanda