When do turtles mate

The females are very vulnerable when they come on land. They are not well adapted to for life out of water and therefore move very slowly.

As she starts laying her eggs, she goes into a trance-like state. Once finished, she covers the egg chamber with sand. On average, an egg chamber can contain anywhere between 70 and eggs. She then crawls back into the ocean and leaves the hatchlings to fend for themselves. We are updating our website so some pages might not display properly. We apologise for the inconvenience. To mate, a male will climb onto a female's back while she is swimming horizontally in the water.

On their front flippers, males have long claws, which they use to hook on to the leading edge of the female's shell — these claws are quite sharp and will often cut into the female's soft flesh near her shell. Male and female sea turtles have cloaca — waste and reproductive orifices — at the base of their tails, and the male's cloaca houses his penis.

During mating, the male will reach his tail underneath the back end of the female's shell. His long penis, which can be almost half the length of his shell, will emerge from his cloaca to penetrate and inseminate the female's cloaca.

By remaining attached to the female, the male can prevent other males from mating with her. But his competition doesn't take this injustice lightly — they bite his tail and flippers hard enough to draw blood and tear flesh repeatedly to try to get him to let go. Jean Marie Bauhaus has been writing about a wide range of topics since Her articles have appeared on a number of popular websites, and she is also the author of two urban fantasy novels.

By using the site, you agree to the uses of cookies and other technology as outlined in our Policy, and to our Terms of Use. Pet Water Turtles Although there are many different wild species of water turtles living in the United States, the most popular in the pet trade, according to the San Diego Turtle and Tortoise Society, is the red-eared slider, or trachemys scripta elegans, a subspecies of the common pond slider. The Courtship Dance When a male turtle initiates courtship, he can be observed coming onto the female by swimming backwards in front of her while tickling her face with his front claws.

The male chases the female, biting her on the neck, head, and edge of her shell. He may even roll her over on her back. The male eventually mounts the female see the picture above and hooks his toes into the female's shell. Males sometimes die as a result of falling on their backs during mating if they're in a place where they can't flip over again. Females store sperm, and may lay fertile eggs from one mating for up to four years! Eggs are usually deposited in May through July.

The female digs a flask-shaped nest during dusk and four to five eggs are usually deposited, but two clutches may be laid per year. Incubation may take from 50 to 90 days, depending on temperature. Some clutches have been known to take up to days to hatch.