Great care is usually taken by researchers if eggs must be moved for any reason more than six to twelve hours after a turtle has nested. After incubating beneath the surface of the sand for approximately two months, the young turtles will begin to hatch out of their shells. Hatchlings may remain within the egg chamber several days after hatching. Hatchlings found in the process of crawling out of their shell are called pipped. The movement of fully hatched and pipping turtles while in the egg chamber serves to loosen the sand, allowing it to trickle down to the bottom of the nest.
Emergence occurs primarily at night.
Over a hundred hatchlings may emerge from a nest at one time. During this period, hatchlings remain in a swimming state. Very little is known about sea turtles from the point that hatchlings enter the ocean until at least 20 years later when the females become sexually mature and come ashore again to nest. This lack of information makes sea turtle management and conservation difficult. Orientation range and spectral sensitivity.