The Wildlife Center of Virginia, the nation’s leading teaching and research hospital for wild animals, is pleased to announce the birth this week of a “baker’s dozen” of turtles – seven Common Snapping Turtles, and six Painted Turtles.  The births represent the most successful incubation of native turtle eggs in the Center’s 27-year history.  The eggs came from four patients at the Wildlife Center. 

In the wild, female snapping and painted turtles lay eggs in a nest – a hole dug with the turtle’s hind legs in moist soil or sand.  Snapping turtles may journey up to 10 miles to reach the nesting site.  Once the eggs are laid, the female turtle returns to her pond or stream. 

At the Wildlife Center, the turtles’ eggs were buried in a peat-moss mixture in aquariums and housed in the Center’s reptile room.  The aquariums were misted frequently to maintain higher levels of humidity.  The eggs hatched about 75 days after they were laid.  

[In the photos below, the hatchling Common Snapping Turtle is shown with a quarter; the hatchling Painted Turtle is shown with a dime.]

       The newly hatched turtles are being released into the wild, including sites in Augusta and Madison Counties.

Snapping Turtles

      The snapping turtle eggs came from two Wildlife Center patients:

* #09-0907 was hit by a car in Staunton and admitted to the Wildlife Center on May 31.  Radiographs revealed both that the turtle was gravely injured [severe head injuries] and was laden with eggs.  Center veterinarians induced labor and were able to collect eggs before the female turtle was euthanized. 

[Animals admitted to the Center are given sequential patient numbers – in the order in which they are admitted.  Patient #09-0907 was the 907th patient admitted to the Center during 2009.  Thus far in 2009, about 2,020 patients have been admitted to the Center, out of a total projected caseload for the year of about 2,400 animals.]

* #09-1034 was hit by a car in Alleghany County and admitted to the Center on June 4.  Radiographs revealed shell fractures – and eggs. Center veterinarians induced labor, and this turtle’s eggs were buried along with #09-0907’s.  The injuries to #09-1034 were not life-threatening, and after two months of treatment and rehabilitation at the Center, this snapping turtle was released at a safe spot near where she was injured.

Painted Turtles

* #09-1094 was hit by a car on Route 231 in Madison County and admitted to the Wildlife Center on June 10 with shell fractures and a head wound.  During her recovery at the Wildlife Center, she laid eggs, which were then re-buried by Center staff.  On July 3 this turtle was taken back to Madison County and released at a safe spot near the site of her accident.

 * #09-1309 was hit by a car in Augusta County and admitted to the Wildlife Center on June 22, with shell and pelvic fractures.  During her recovery, this turtle also laid eggs, which were re-buried along with eggs from #09-1094.  Turtle #09-1309 is still a patient at the Wildlife Center; she is a candidate for release once her shell fractures heal.

Are You a Boy … Or Are You a Girl? 

      The gender of Common Snapping Turtles and Painted Turtles offspring are determined by the temperature of their nests [a syndrome labeled “temperature-dependent sex determination”].

      For snapping turtles, eggs incubated at temperatures greater than 84 degrees, or less than 68 degrees, produce female turtles.  Eggs incubated between 68 and 84 degrees are of either gender – except for eggs incubated in the 74 to 75 degree range, which are exclusively male.

      For Painted Turtles, eggs incubated at less than 73.4 degrees, or higher than 80.6 degrees, produce female turtles.  Eggs incubated in the range in between are exclusively male.

      The Wildlife Center of Virginia is an internationally acclaimed teaching and research hospital for wildlife and conservation medicine.  Since its founding in 1982, the nonprofit Center has cared for more than 53,000 wild animals, representing 200 species of native birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians.  The Center’s public education programs share insights gained through the care of injured and orphaned wildlife, in hopes of reducing human damage to wildlife.  The Center trains veterinary and conservation professionals from all over the world and is actively involved in comprehensive wildlife health studies and the surveillance of emerging diseases.    

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