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The Life Cycle

of a Terrapin

by Isaac H.
 

How to Care

for 

Terrapins

by Leah M.
 

Terrapins at

Hebron-

Harman

by Chynna J.
 

What Do

Terrapins

Look

Like

by Kamaria A.
 

Life as a

Terrapin

by Taylor S.

Ways to

Protect

Terrapins

by Nini

This is a turtle's plastron

A Superior nest!

A turtle’s life cycle is a thing all diamondback terrapins go through. Eggs are an example. Females reproduce when they are between 8 and 13 years old. They crawl from creeks onto beaches to deposit their eggs in the summer. The eggs are usually pinkish-white and are laid in 6-inch deep burrows beneath the sand. They wait until nightfall because most predators don’t come out at night. The nest of a terrapin can affect the gender of the eggs; the warmer the nest, the more females are reproduced. After the eggs hatch, the inch-long hatchlings emerge from the nest and scamper to the nearest body of water.

Rings Aren’t Always for Marriage

A terrapin’s carapace is the top part of its shell while the plastron is the bottom part. The age of a terrapin can be determined by counting the rings on the scutes of the carapace and plastron.

Help Us!

Sadly, the diamond back terrapin is nearly extinct today. Many are captured by fisherman and so me of them die in road kills. On the hand, other in some places the terrapins are making a comeback!