Discover nature this week, and watch for baby snapping turtles, hatching from eggs near Missouri’s streams, ponds, and wetlands.
Snapping turtles occur statewide – anywhere there’s permanent water. They prefer bodies of water with mud bottoms, abundant aquatic vegetation, and submerged logs.
Females travel overland during egg-laying season – mostly in late spring and early summer – and are often killed by cars.
Females dig nests in deep sand or loose soil and deposit up to two clutches of 20-30 eggs per season.