After fertilization female turtles will lounge in the sun with their heads and legs fully extended. They lay their eggs on sandy ground and will travel up to 1 miles to reach a good nesting area. Each clutch, or nest of eggs, contains from 3 to 17 eggs and takes 65 to 90 days to hatch. Nests are not safe from hungry birds, crows, skunks, and raccoons. The earlier the eggs hatch the more time the young have to grow before hibernation.
Eggs have a better chance of hatching if they miss autumn frosts.
Hatchlings are about one and a quarter inches long and range from a dark gray to green color. Scientists know very little about the habits of the young because they are so secretive. The Blanding s turtle lives in marshes, ponds, quiet streams, and shallow bays. It can be found in wetlands in southern Ontario and northwestern Pennsylvania in the East, through Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and southern Minnesota, and also Nebraska, Iowa, and northeastern Missouri in the West. In Wisconsin, Blanding s turtles live throughout the state except in extreme north central counties.