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What Do Turtle Eggs Look Like? Guide
You may be wondering about all these questions, such as what do box turtle eggs look like? What do sea turtle eggs look like? What do red-eared turtle eggs look like? etc. Don’t worry because you’ll be left with no questions unanswered by the end of this complete guide. Stick till the end
Turtles are reptiles just like lizards or snakes that are available in diverse biodiversity. The color of the turtle eggs doesn’t show that kind of diversity. They are only limited, unlike bird eggs which are available in six different types of color. Turtle Eggs are super sensitive to their surrounding.
What Do Turtle Eggs Looks Like?
Turtle Eggs are generally found in underground pits. The eggs of turtles are susceptible, and thus they require a good amount of care and attention, especially during the first few days. If proper care was abandoned, the eggs might never produce offspring.
Turtles never come back to their eggs after they lay them. Turtle eggs are generally soft, especially during the first week of incubation. Eggs are usually small, with a very sensitive outer shell. Turtle Eggs resemble the shape and dimensions of a golf ball.
There are few cases when scientists have found turtle eggs not spherical; they can be a little bit more bulged out because of calcium strands that are secreted from the eggs. Some of the turtle eggs are elongated, depicting a cylindrical shape more than a sphere.
Turtle eggs are kept in the nest by female turtles, and they have the responsibility to locate a suitable pit or duct where their eggs can be safe and get desired weather conditions for eggs to hatch usually.
The nest is entirely covered with sand and bushes. Land turtles don’t prefer to lay their eggs in the sand but the dirt.
What Do Box Turtle Eggs Look Like?
Box Turtles are more prominent than usual turtles as their average length is 20 cm. These turtles usually have a yellow radiating marking on their shell. They got the name “box turtle” because of their innate ability to wind up their head, tail, legs, and arms entirely into the shell pocket.
Box turtles are prominently found in West Virginia. They come out in groups during the summer or spring season. During the fall, box turtles towards the forest valleys to hibernate in a burrow. They can survive freezing cold. Box turtles have a life expectancy age up to 100 years. Hundreds and thousands of box turtles are killed by automobile traffic and driven away by cars every year.
Box Turtle eggs are generally planted in between the months of May and July. The female box turtle digs the nest during dusk. The shape of the nest resembles the shape of a chemical flask used in laboratories. At a time, only four to five eggs get deposited. The incubation period for the box turtle eggs can range from 50 to 90 days.
Box turtle eggs get laid in two clutches per year. Some clutches can even take 120 days to hatch. Like most turtles, the sex of the offspring gets determined by the temperature at which the eggs have been kept at the time of incubation.
Box turtle eggs are light brown in color, and they are a bit softer on the shell, unlike most sea turtles. Box Turtle eggs may feel rubbery or leathery on touch, just like snake eggs.
What Do Sea Turtle Eggs Looks Like?
Sea Turtles have different kinds of eggs, such as loggerheads, leatherback eggs, and green eggs. Leatherback sea turtles take 75-85 days to lay their eggs and allow them to fully mature like hatchlings. Loggerheads sea turtles usually take up to 45-65 days to evolve and hatch.
Some sea turtles can lay about 100 eggs in the combination of 6-8 clutches in a season. The Flatback turtles have the smallest clutches which can be near to 50 eggs per clutch. The hawksbills sea turtles have the largest clutches amongst the sea turtles which can be near to 200 eggs per clutch.
Sea turtle eggs are softer and pale yellow in color. They look dirty just after the female turtles lays them out in the safest burrow.
What Do Red-Eared Turtle Eggs Look Like?
Red-Eared Slider turtle eggs are oval in shape. They are usually very different than any standard chicken egg. Red-eared slider turtles lay about 10-40 eggs in one clutch. The female red-eared turtle is able to produce five clusters of eggs in one year. The eggs are softshell on the outside.
The eggs of red-eared slider turtles can be seen as similar in consistency when compared to regular boiled chicken eggs. Baby red-eared slider turtles have a small sack-like yolk. This yolk is attached with plastron because that is what feeds the babies during their first few days of life until they become capable of finding their own meal.
Most red-eared turtle eggs do not take care of their eggs because they are not strong enough to defend themselves. In this process of protecting their eggs, they get hurt, and predators can get attention towards their eggs. That’s why they stay away from the place where they’ve kept their eggs.
FAQs:- What Do Turtle Eggs Look Like
Que. 1:- What is the size of an average turtle egg?
Ans:- The size of turtle eggs varies to a very extent. The smallest egg of all the eggs is of sea turtles (3.5 cm in diameter), whereas the giant egg of all the eggs comes from the leatherback turtles (5.5 cm in diameter).
Que. 2:- What do turtle eggs look like when kept in water?
Ans:- The turtle eggs generally float on the water’s surface, and they look the same color, such as cream, pale yellow, or light brown even inside water.
Que. 3:-Do turtle eggs have a yolk?
Ans:- Yes, Baby red-eared slider turtles have a small sack-like yolk. This yolk is attached with plastron because that is what feeds the babies during their first few days of life until they become capable of finding their own meal.
