of June to lay her eggs. She may wander a great distance in search 

 of a place to make her nest, in spite of the fact that the choice of 

 sites of snapping turtles varies from the wet, spongy top of an 

 old muskrat lodge to the barely damp, sandy soil of an upland 

 pasture. 



The nests vary as greatly in shape as in types of location. One 

 of more elaborate construction is dug by alternate strokes of the 

 hind feet and is somewhat flask-shaped in construction. The bottom 

 is about one foot wide and three or four inches from the surface. 

 Some twenty to forty eggs are laid in the nest, and then dirt and 

 other debris are scraped into and over the hole by the hind feet of 

 the female. 



The eggs apparently hatch the following spring in Michigan, 

 but further south hatch in August of the year laid. 



A nest containing some fifteen eggs was ploughed up in an old 

 field near Metamora, Michigan in November, 1940. The location 

 was about 500 feet from a trout stream (which also contains pike 

 and minnows), and about ten feet above stream level. The soil is 

 sandy. The eggs were placed on a mantle at room temperature 

 (about 72° F.) and there hatched during the following two days. 

 The turtles were then brought to me. At this time all had some 

 remnants of yolk sac attached, some with yolk sac two to six mm. 

 long. 



In the laboratory the little turtles proved to be rather sluggish. 

 However, in a brightly lighted room they consistently crawled to- 

 ward the large, brightly lighted windows at one end of the room, 

 regardless of whether they had to crawl up or down an improvised 

 hill. In the absence of light they buried themselves in moist sand. 

 On December 2, they were placed in a one-quart fruit basket with 

 a small Painted Turtle, covered with moist sand, and buried in a 

 coldframe outdoors. There they remained until May 5, 1941, 

 when they were remembered and excavated. At that time only one 

 snapping turtle survived, but it seemed to be in good condition 

 and was released. When allowed to crawl on the warm ground, 

 the survivor persisted in crawling downhill if left to itself. If 

 placed in the shade, it crawled into the open and then started 



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