Hatchling Program 

Turtle Nursery

Each turtle admitted to OTCC – once stabilized with fluids, painkillers, antibiotics, and wound management – is x-rayed to check for internal injuries and to see the females are still carrying eggs. If there are eggs, we provide the turtle with a nesting box, so she can lay her eggs naturally. The eggs are then moved to a nest container and incubated in our Turtle Nursery. Most hatchlings are quickly released back in the ponds and marshes near to where their mother was found, but those who hatch later in the fall are kept over the winter, to give them more of a “headstart” in life, and are released in spring.