Snapping Turtle Laying Eggs in Ant Hill Again

It has been just over a year since I witnessed a Common Snapping Turtle laying eggs in an ant hill constructed Allegheny Mound Ants.  That was the first time I had seen an ant hill chosen as a nest site for turtle eggs.  Now the turtle is back and repeating last year’s performance. 

The female Snapping Turtle has chosen an ant hill about 50 feet from the one used last year.  This is a smaller mound, so the damage appears more extensive than what I witnessed before.  She seems to have taken off a significant portion of the mound top before feeling comfortable in digging out the egg chamber.

The ants are naturally disturbed by her intrusion and are trying their best to defend their home.  The turtle’s eye is probably the only place sensitive enough to be bothered by an ant’s bite.  Sight is not needed for the turtle’s egg laying activity, so the eyes can be kept closed to keep the ants at bay.

On the other side of her head, the ants are all busy futilely attaching the thick neck skin, so the turtle keeps that eye open.  She gave no indication that she noticed my presence.

The ants quickly abandon attacking parts of the turtle that do not move.  The turtle’s hind legs are targets of constant ant attack because they are continually moving to push the eggs into the nest chamber.

The turtle finished laying her clutch soon after I arrived.  I left when she began covering the freshly layed eggs.  I kept a watch on last year’s nest in hopes of seeing the emergence of young turtles, but I missed seeing that event.  I can attest that there was no evidence that egg eating predators bothered the nest.  Maybe the ants provide protection to the developing turtles.

This is the condition in which I find most Snapping Turtle nests.  I found the remains of this nest just hours after witnessing the placement of the ant hill clutch.  Maybe ant hills are the best place for turtle eggs.

Click HERE to read about last year’s turtle eggs in an ant hill.  Click HERE to view a video of last year’s egg laying event.

Snapping Turtle Laying Eggs

A big turtle on a big ant hill is a pretty easy thing to see from a distance.  I didn’t even question my first glance identification of this object.  I just headed over to take a closer look.

Still sporting a coat of wet mud from the pond bottom, this female Common Snapping Turtle is in the process of excavating a cavity in which to deposit a load of eggs.  The process begins with a release of urine that both softens the soil and allows the hole to be dug without the sides caving in.

The turtle uses her hind legs to dig the hole, arrange the eggs, and cover her clutch.  She never sees what’s going on and does everything by touch.  The hole is dug to the extent of the turtle’s reach.  Larger turtles lay more eggs, but they also have a longer reach and excavate a larger hole.  This turtle measures about 13 inches from front of shell to rear. 

Once the underground cavity is completed, the turtle begins to lay eggs.  Eggs were dropped at a rate of one or two per minute until a total of about 30 eggs was reached.

After each egg was dropped, the turtle used her leg to sweep the area where the egg fell to make sure it made it into the hole.  Next she reached her leg down and pushed the latest deposit further into the cavity.

When the last egg was put into place, the turtle began stretching her hind legs far out and raking in loose soil with which to refill the hole.  Each scoop was carefully packed down until the soil in the hole was brought up to the level of the surrounding ground.

The ants had various responses to the disturbance caused by the turtle.  Some hurried to defend their nest.  Others collected water from the turtle’s body.  Ants biting around the turtle’s eyes caused her to give an occasional snap that had no impact on the activities of the ants.

Once the hole was filled, the turtle began moving up the mound.  As she climbed, she used all four legs to tear up soil and push it back in the direction of her eggs.  When she had finished, it was impossible to identify the exact site of her nest cavity.

The last bit of covering activity put the ants back into defensive mode and they swarmed the turtle.  I don’t think the turtle’s eyes were open for more than a few seconds the entire time she was on the ant mound.

No, she’s not dead.  This turtle has spent most of her life in a pond where her bulk is supported by water.  The effort to leave the water, construct a nest, lay eggs, and return to the pond requires a great expenditure of energy on her part.  Throughout the entire process, she would periodically go limp and rest a few seconds before continuing her work. 

During rest periods, the ants would calm down and go back to their water collecting activities.  May has been an extremely dry month at Blue Jay Barrens and the ants are taking advantage of every opportunity to collect fresh water.

After an extended nap atop the mound, the turtle revived and turned to face her home pond.

Off she goes, shedding ants with every step.  I just wonder how the eggs will fare in their ant protected incubator.

I’ve included a short video of some eggs being added to the nest.  A more complete video can be viewed on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Turtle Eggshells

This is the most common time of year for finding evidence of reptile egg clutches. I’m always happy to see these signs that reptiles are successfully reproducing at Blue Jay Barrens. The trick is to figure out what species laid the eggs.

The shells look the way they should after a successful hatching. I’m assuming the odor of the hatchlings or the recently vacated eggs is what caused a predator to dig out the nest. I hope some of the little ones avoided becoming a meal.

There are way too many eggs for this to have been a box turtle nest. The shell is smoother than the snake eggs I found last year, so this may not be a snake nest.

The hole was enlarged some by the nest raider, but it’s hard to see inside. I can see that the cavity extends out of sight to the right. I guess there’s only one thing left to do.

Since I’m right handed, I thought it best to send my left hand in to check things out. Sticking your hand down a blind hole isn’t the wisest of moves, but I figured the chances of getting my hand bitten off were about equal to finding a gold nugget in there. My hand emerged unscathed. I found a chamber about the right size for a medium sized clutch of snapping turtle eggs. There’s a pond about a half mile from here and that’s well within the range of a female snapping turtle looking for a place to lay her eggs. This is also around the right time for the eggs to be hatching.

I was being circled by crows the entire time I spent investigating the nest. I get checked out by crows all the time, but it’s unusual for them to remain hanging over me for any extended amount of time. I wonder if they could have recently made a meal of some of the young snappers and were checking out the possibility of another feast.