Box turtle breeding in Hawaii

[gmarie808]

Anyone from Hawaii (Oahu) with experience in Box turtle breeding and egg incubation knowledge?
Wondering if our warm climate is warm enough for my box turtle eggs or if I will need to buy an incubator? & if the warmer climate will decrease the length of time the eggs will hatch in?

 

[ascott]

Hi....just giving your thread a bump ....hold on....

 

[Tccarolina]

Probably warm enough, but it might be too rainy. In the last third of the incubation, box turtle eggs can swell and split from too much moisture.
I'm in California, and they have never hatched outside for me.

If I incubate for females, which is a warm 86-87 degrees farenheit constant temperature, my eastern box turtle eggs will hatch in about 51 days. In the wild, 69 -136 days has been recorded.

I believe 70 is the minimum temp where you may not get growth occuring. If you leave them in the ground, and they hatch, than you know. If however, they don't come up, than all you know is that they didn't hatch this time, not that they can't hatch where you are. Ants can find and eat them, the temps or wetness might have been just enough to kill them this time, but not next time, etc.

If you really want babies, make an incubator. If you are just curious to see if they can hatch outside, then leave them. My box turtle incubators are simple but very effective. They consist of a tub with a lid, a small adjustable aquarium heater, a stick-on temperature strip made for a glass tank, and little plastic tubs with lids and holes drilled in the upper lip on the sides that float around in the water in the tub. The eggs go in vermiculate inside the little tubs. It's easy to make and should be less than 20 bucks.

 

[kimber_lee_314]

I'm in So Cal too and I mostly leave mine in the ground. If they lay them early, like March or April, I will incubate them. Otherwise I just leave them alone and dig them up in 100 days or so. I would think your climate would be fine for them, but I agree, try some both ways and see what happens. Good luck!

 

[Allghoi Khorkhoi]

Supremelysteves advice is great - just remember when a turtle embryo in an egg begins to develop it attaches to the top of the egg shell. If the turtle egg is turned, the embryo will most often die. Therefore, the tops of all turtle eggs should be marked with a felt tipped marker before they are moved.

Also turtle eggs will spoil at temperatures much above 95 degrees F. Therefore, do not unearth eggs on days the air temperature is above 95 degrees or even in hot sun.

and here are some great pics of beautiful EBTs along with some little known facts

 

[terryo]

cool little site.