My first experience hatching reptiles - a friend's parents saw a large female snapper laying eggs in their yard and called me up because they knew I liked reptiles. They didn't want more snappers in the pond behind their house because they have kids, a dog, etc. that are constantly messing around near the pond.

I dug the eggs up after the mom left, put them in a rubbermaid bin on top of a few inches of loose soil, put a few more inches of loose soil on top and closed the lid and placed the bin under my desk in my room. I pretty much forgot about the eggs while they were there and figured if they went bad I would smell it and get rid of them.

One day I was sitting on the computer and hear little scraping noises and got totally freaked out because I couldn't figure out what it was - then I remembered the bin. I opened the lid and saw about 30 tiny snapping turtles emerging from the dirt! I went through and realized every single egg hatched flawlessly with no duds and no dead babies. I held on to a few for a couple of weeks and released the rest in a safe local pond at the back of a farm where nobody would bother them. Releasing them into the water was an incredible feeling that I'll never forget.


I have hatched ducks, chickens, had mammalian pets give birth, and other turtles since then. Now I'm on day 55 of my first clutch and everything looks great. I can barely sleep at night and when I wake up in the middle of the night I find myself scooting into the herp room and shooting a flashlight into the incubator waiting to see some little heads!