How to Breed Snapping Turtles

Snapping turtles are temperamental animals that are likely to attack you as well as a proposed mate, but with a little patience and planning, you can get your snapping turtles to breed. After the breeding process, the female will lay her eggs outside the pond. You can let nature take its course at this point or you can step in and incubate the eggs. If you are looking for any specific gender for the hatchlings, incubation is necessary, since temperature determines the sex of the baby snapping turtles.

Things You'll Need

  • Shovel
  • Sand
  • Feed pellets
  • Chicken
  • Beef
  • Pork
  • Leafy greens
  • Pencil
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Instructions

    • 1

      Release a female and male snapping turtle into an outdoor pond enclosure immediately after their hibernation period. Mating takes place after hibernation, so do not introduce the turtles into the same environment until the mating period. The hibernation period should end in late February or early April.

    • 2

      Dig a 2-foot-square, 1-foot-deep hole next to your outdoor turtle enclosure. Fill the hole with sand. This will be a prime nesting area for the female turtle so she won't have to travel far from her pond.

    • 3

      Provide your turtles with the recommended amount of snapping turtle pellets. You can add to their diet by throwing chunks of chicken, beef and pork into the enclosure as well as an assortment of leafy greens.

    • 4

      Monitor your female turtle closely in the evening. During the evening, she will emerge from the water when she is ready to lay her eggs. Remove the male from the outdoor enclosure as soon as she lays the eggs.

    • 5

      Monitor the progress of the eggs for the next three to four months (this is how long it takes them to hatch generally). If you set the eggs in an incubator, mark the tops of the eggs with an "X" and do not rotate them. Rotating the eggs will kill them.