Not a single egg hatches During last summer, Compton located a dozen turtle nests with eight to 12 eggs. Yet not a single egg in any of the nests hatched, he said, probably because last spring was too cold. Here, on the northern edge of the wood turtle's range, eggs may fail to hatch as often as four out of five years, McCollough theorizes. But even if the hatchlings had emerged, they probably wouldn't have lasted long. Weasels, skunks, herons, coyotes and bass feed on turtle hatchlings.
Raccoons are their most dedicated enemy.
But it still wouldn't mature sexually for 12 to 15 years, and females may not nest until age 16 to 20. So while the human population can double itself in about 30 years, Compton says, one study set the doubling time for a wood turtle population at 2,000 years. Hatchlings raised in captivity are aggressive and often kill or injure one another. Predators also would take a heavy toll on released hatchlings. Most breeders simply rely on dog food or fish pellets.