Sea Turtles Nesting Process

1. Stranding. Testing the stranding site, and emerging from the wave wash.

2. Selecting a course and crawling from the surf to the nesting site.

Turtles are at a extreme disadvantage on land since they normally have water buoyancy to support them as they breathe. On shore, their weight tends to compress the lungs, which makes it difficult for them to breathe. While slowly crawling to the nesting site, the turtle will often raise its head as if looking around. At this stage as well as when the turtle is first emerging from the water, lights or motion will often cause the turtle to return to the water. It still might come ashore a few hours later at another point on the beach or it might postpone the nesting for a night or two.

3. Selection of a nesting site

Turtles nest well above the tideline. Otherwise, excessive dampness or standing water will cause the eggs to deteriorate and the embryos will die.

4. Clearing of the nest area

Once having reached a suitable spot, a turtle will use its for flippers to scoop out a shallow “body pit”.  The hind flippers flip sand away from the area that will be excavated for the egg cavity. The track of a turtle that comes ashore and departs without any attempts at nesting is called a “false crawl”.  The turtles will end nest buildings for any of the following reasons

1. obstruction of digging by thick tree roots or logs which make digging difficult or impossible.
2. The sides of the nesting chamber collapsing because the sand is too dry to maintain a steep walled  configuration.
3. Interruption by other turtles, animals, or humans.

5. Excavating the body pit

Only the hind legs are used to dig the egg chamber. If a turtle nesting late in the season happens to choose a site close to where other eggs are already incubating, she literally thinks nothing of disturbing or wrecking the other clutch as she digs a fresh pit. Gulls and other predators will feed on the excavated eggs, effectively destroying the first nest. The spilled yolk will also contaminate the new eggs, preventing their hatching also.

6. Excavating the nest hole

The completed nest hole averages about 18 inches deep, roughly 10 inches in diameter and is bottle shaped. The female is able to dig deeply by raising her head and pushing up with the fore flippers. This slanting position permits the hind flippers to dig deeper. In order to keep the nest hole from collapsing, the hind flippers work as delicate scoops to remove the sand, which is thrown backward and away from the hole, just before the flipper is re-inserted.

7. Oviposition

After she folds her flippers out of the way, the female will deposit, on average, about 100 eggs. The eggs drop two or three at a time along with considerable mucus from the cloaca. At this point almost nothing will stop a turtle from delivering her eggs, not even a raccoon catching and eating the eggs as they drop.
As she does so, she will begin to shed tears. This is not due to pain or exertion, but instead because she needs to rid her body of excess salts. The development of the eggs typically takes about 50 to 60 days. Weather and Sunlight are very important factors for determining length of time.

8. Filling, covering and packing the nest hole

The flippers are used to fill in the nesting hole

9. Filling of the body pit and concealing of the nesting site

The females use both foreflippers to scatter sand in all directions in an attempt to disguise the nesting site.

10. Selecting a course and returning to the sea

The female will continue to scatter sand in all directions as she returns to the water, apparently to hide the nests location.

11. Re-entry into the sea

The turtle enters the water, pushing off the bottom until she is able to float, and swims away.