Reproduction
Breeding occurs in the spring, and females lay two to 9 elliptical, hard-shelled eggs in a shallow burrow or under shoreline debris. An unusual behaviour is the tendency to share nesting sites; in one case there were 16 nests under a single log. The eggs hatch in late summer or early fall. Egg predation is a major cause of mortality, as with many turtle species. In one Pennsylvania population, hatching success was only 15 percent, and predators alone destoyed 25 of 32 nests. Hatchlings are usually less than one inch long. Their lifespan, as with most turtles, is quite long, with specimens in captivity being recorded at 50+ years of age.
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