I Found A Turtle In My Yard
IF YOU ARE NOT NEAR US in Massachusetts, find a licensed wildlife rehabilitator in your state here.
Turtles are not pests and we are not a pest removal service. If not bothered, turtles will not hurt people of any size, pets, property or your lawn.
If you live near a pond, lake, river, swamp, or other body of water, chances are you have turtle visitors in the late spring. With habitats shrinking due to land development, new roads and changing climate, turtles have to travel further to locate a suitable place to lay their eggs. More people are reporting turtles digging in their yards or along their driveways than ever before.
What Does This Mean?
First, CONGRATULATIONS! This is a real gift from nature. Very few people get to witness such a miracle of life. You are witnessing an act that has been taking place for over 200 million years. That mother turtle is doing what her mother did, and in turn, her mother’s mother did, all the way back through time while dinosaurs roamed, and even earlier! The real miracle is that this humble turtle was never taught, never witnessed her mother do it, and yet she knows how.
Nest selection is a very special process. That turtle in your yard chose your yard for a reason. Turtles visually look for a spot, then they sniff and rub their faces into the soil, and finally they dig. If something is not to their liking, they will keep searching even if they already dug a deep hole. The turtle knows how important this act of nesting is for her species’ survival and so should we! Too many local populations are collapsing and it is all because that mother turtle, looking for a special spot, is unable to complete her task.
Is My Family At Risk?
Absolutely not! If you see an especially large turtle in your yard and you have a dog, keep it inside while the mother is nesting; it will take about an hour and a half. Nesting turtles do not hunt out of water, so the only danger is if she needs to defend herself. It is completely safe to watch the turtle quietly from a distance as she lays her eggs. If she needs to immediately cross a road, you may want to help with that, just to the other side, not further. Be sure not to approach until she is completely finished up and walking away and you have a good sense of what direction she is heading.
Once the turtle is finished, she will fill in the hole and walk back to her home, never to return to this nest or her hatching young. Turtles are highly solitary creatures and those little eggs in your yard are on their own from the moment the mother walks away.
How Can I Help?
You can fence off the nest site to protect it from predators. Be cautious with netting, if the mesh is tighter than a half inch, the hatchlings won’t be able to escape. Small gap fencing can be used, but you will need to check the nest daily when August rolls around. Fencing a nest is rewarding and can be a great help to turtles, but consequences are high if not done properly and checked regularly.
Around the time that the turtles should be hatching, keeping your cats and dogs indoors or away from the nest can help save little turtle lives. Be sure to scan the lawn before you mow, and avoid using pesticides which can harm the turtles.
If you wish to protect a nest and you have questions, you can email us for more information.
Can I Move A Nest?
For the most part, we advise against it. That mother turtle made her selection aided by instinct and finely honed senses, and a site you choose may not have what the baby turtles need. The mother also constructed the nest with special care (using bladder water to reinforce the egg chamber). It might look like a simple hole to us, but it’s far more. Any new nest you choose will lack a lot of the characteristics that the mother selected for originally.
Unlike chicken or bird eggs, turtle eggs cannot be rotated. This will kill the developing turtle inside. Digging up a nest risks all the turtles within.
Only under the most serious of needs should a nest be moved and only by experienced people. If you need to relocate a nest, contact the Turtle Rescue League here.