I recently came into possession of 2 painted turtle eggs. Mom was hit by a rather large lawn mower so those were all there were. My question is should I just bury the eggs and leave well enough alone or should I make sure that these babies have a chance to hatch to replenish the one that is deceased?

You can bury them but getting the conditions just right is difficult. I'm not a turtle expert but have a section on hatching turtle eggs at http://fishpondinfo.com/turcare.htm#hatch
It's always so sad when a turtle dies. I hope the eggs make it! You might try contacting your local turtle rehabilitator if there is one.

Thank you Robyn for your answering my question. We did bury them in the garden in the hopes that they would survive. We already looked at and printed out the info you have on turtles. That is why we wondered what path we should persue. I think we are going to leave well enough alone and hope for the best.

That was a good idea. Careing for and incubating uhatched turtle eggs would be pretty difficult. They will probably have just as good a shot being buried as they do in any other situation. Keep an eye on them, and let us know how things turn out.

My 4 year old just found a painted turtle laying eggs in my front lawn, which is about 200 foot from our lake in the back yard. We put a roomy wire cage over the top of the turtle to keep our puppy away. When she is done laying her eggs we will let her out and replace the cage over the eggs.Our main question is how long will it take these eggs to hatch?



Signed,
A concerned Mom& Curious Kid

The eggs will probably hatch in about 3 months. If it's too late into fall (cold), the babies will remain in the nest, underground, until spring when they'll emerge. Exact incubation times depend on temperature and other factors so I can't give you an exact date.