Snapping turtle eggs?

Question

Rescued 54 eggs, turtle was digging a nest by the mail box and was run over by the mailman. Marked all the eggs "this side up" and put them in a plastic pan with a couple of inches of sand and gravel from the nest area. Soil temp at egg level was 63 at midday. I live in S.W.North Dakota. What is the gestation time and ideal max-min temp etc. Any reference material welcomed. RScott

Answer 1

"Snapping turtle eggs should hatch after 80 to 90 days, but there are many cases when it happens even after about 60 days."

Check this site for "incubator" answers for snapping turtle eggs:
http://www.chelydra.org/snapping_turtle_incubator.html

Answer 2

Well, that's kinda up to you. Do you honestly want a snapping turtle? At any rate, I think the best thing to do is just let them stay where they are right now. If you do want a pet snapping turtle just keep an extremely close eye on the nest and when they hatch, just snag a hatchling. One of my Friends used to have a pet snapping turtle. It was awesome. Hope it turns out okay. And by the way, the mother obviously won't come back anyway even if you do get into the mess, so don't worry about that.