How Do Softshell Turtles Mate? Courtship, Breeding & Egg Care

Most turtles mate like tiny armored wrestlers. The male climbs on, locks his claws onto the female’s shell, and hangs on for dear life.

Softshell turtles looked at that strategy and said, “No thanks.”

These pancake-shaped weirdos do almost everything differently, and mating is no exception. So, how do softshell turtles mate?

In the wild, the male softshell turtle makes the first move by nudging the female’s head and snout. If she is interested, the pair moves to deeper water, where the male swims above her during mating instead of gripping her shell with his claws like most other turtle species.

That no-grip detail surprises a lot of keepers. And it is just the start.

In this guide, I will walk you through the whole process. Courtship, breeding them in captivity, nesting, and what to do when you suddenly find a pile of ping-pong-ball eggs in the enclosure.

How Do Softshell Turtles Mate In The Wild?

Softshell turtle romance starts in spring. For most North American species, courtship kicks off between April and June, once the water warms up after brumation.

The males are the eager ones. During the season, a male will actively cruise around looking for females, while the females mostly go about their day.

You may notice two classic courtship patterns.

The Water Chase

The most common move is a chase. The male follows the female, nudging at her head and the edges of her shell.

When the two get close, they start swimming circles around each other. They submerge, pop back up at the surface, then dive again, almost like they are testing each other’s rhythm.

Researchers believe this circling and surfacing routine is how softshells size up a potential partner. If the female is not impressed, she simply swims off.

The Basking Dock Investigation

The second pattern is bolder. A male sometimes approaches turtles resting at a basking spot and checks them out one by one.

He extends his neck and pokes his snout near the edge of the other turtle’s carapace. If it turns out to be another male, nothing happens, and he moves on.

If it is a female, one of two things happens:

1. She is interested. She stays calm and lets him follow her into deeper water for mating.
2. She is not interested. She ignores him, and if he keeps pestering her, she gets nasty about it. Spinning around, biting, and chasing him off are all on the table.

The female always has the final say. A pushy male softshell gets bitten, not a date.

The Actual Mating: No Claws Allowed

Here is where softshells break the turtle rulebook.

When a slider or painted turtle mates, the male clamps onto the female’s shell with his claws. He basically rides her like a backpack.

A male softshell turtle cannot do that. The female’s shell is soft, leathery, and sensitive, so digging claws into it would injure her.

Instead, the male swims above the female while they mate, holding his position without ever truly clasping her shell. He may lightly grip the front edge of her carapace with his mouth or rest against her, but there is no claw lock.

The actual coupling is quick by turtle standards. Most pairings wrap up within about 20 minutes, although the full courtship dance before it can stretch close to an hour.

One more thing worth knowing. Like many turtle species, female softshells can store sperm after a single mating. So a lone female can lay fertile eggs months after her last contact with a male. Keep that in mind before you panic about a “miracle” clutch.

When Do Softshell Turtles Mate And Nest?

Here is the typical timeline for softshell turtles in North America:

Stage	Timing
Mating season	April to June
Nesting season	May to July (into August in warm regions)
Eggs hatch	After 55 to 85 days, usually August to October

Florida softshells living in warm southern climates start earlier and nest longer, sometimes from mid-March through July.

Do Softshell Turtles Lay More Than One Clutch?

Yes, and some species are absolute egg machines.

Species	Eggs Per Clutch	Clutches Per Year
Spiny softshell	4 to 39 (usually 12 to 18)	1 to 2
Smooth softshell	4 to 33	1 to 2
Florida softshell	9 to 38 (about 20 on average)	Up to 4 to 6

The Florida softshell is one of the most productive turtles in North America. A big, healthy female can pump out well over 100 eggs in a single year across multiple clutches.

Bigger females lay bigger clutches. That is one reason females evolved to be so much larger than males.

A Weird Softshell Fact: Temperature Does Not Decide The Babies’ Sex

For most turtles, the incubation temperature decides whether the hatchlings come out male or female. Warmer nests make females, cooler nests make males.

Softshell turtles threw that system in the trash millions of years ago.

Softshells use genetic sex determination, with ZZ/ZW sex chromosomes, just like birds. The sex of each hatchling is locked in at fertilization, and no amount of nest warmth will change it.

For you as a breeder, this is actually great news. You can incubate at whatever temperature produces the healthiest hatchlings without accidentally producing an all-female clutch.

Breeding Softshell Turtles In Captivity

Breeding softshells at home is doable, but it is not a beginner project. You need the right pair, the right setup, and a lot of patience.

Why bother breeding them at all?

1. Captive-bred softshells adapt to humans and enclosure life far better than wild-caught ones.
2. They tend to be calmer and less defensive.
3. Every captive-bred hatchling sold is one less turtle pulled from the wild.

Before you put two turtles together, cross-check these four things.

1. Confirm The Gender

This sounds obvious, but plenty of people have waited years for eggs from two males.

Here is how to tell male and female softshell turtles apart:

Trait	Male	Female
Size	Much smaller	Noticeably bigger
Tail	Long and thick, vent near the tip	Short and thin, vent close to the shell edge
Carapace pattern	Keeps the juvenile spots and dashes	Pattern fades into blotchy camouflage with age
Carapace texture (spiny softshell)	Stays rough like sandpaper	Becomes smoother

The tail is your most reliable clue. If the vent (cloaca) sits well past the shell edge, you are looking at a male.

I have a full step-by-step guide on how to tell the gender of a softshell turtle if you want photos and details.

2. Confirm The Age And Maturity

Immature turtles cannot breed, and forcing the situation only stresses them.

• Males mature at around 4 to 5 years old, with a carapace of roughly 5 to 7 inches.
• Females take much longer, around 8 to 12 years old, with a carapace of 9 to 10 inches or more.

Yes, you read that right. Your female needs nearly a decade before she is ready. Softshell breeding is a long game.

Not sure how big your species should be at maturity? Check my softshell turtle size chart and weight guide.

3. Confirm The Health

Mating is physically stressful, especially for the female. Both turtles should be active, feeding well, and at a healthy weight before you introduce them.

If anything seems off, get a vet checkup first. A gravid female with a hidden health problem can develop egg binding, which is a genuine emergency.

4. Get The Ratio Right

Not every mating attempt succeeds. Commercial softshell farms hedge their bets by keeping about 1 male for every 4 to 5 females.

At home, a single confirmed pair works fine. Just do not keep multiple males together. Two male softshells in one enclosure during breeding season is a knife fight waiting to happen.

Setting Up For Breeding

Softshells breed best in conditions that feel natural. Here is how to stack the odds.

Feed them up first. Breeding burns serious energy, especially egg production. In the weeks before pairing, feed a rich, varied diet of fish, shrimp, and quality turtle pellets (my pick: Mazuri Aquatic Turtle Diet), plus cuttlebone (my pick: natural cuttlefish bone) for calcium. My full softshell feeding guide covers the details.

Give them space and depth. An outdoor pond is ideal. Indoors, you need a large, deep tank since softshells mate in deeper water. A proper setup includes a strong canister filter (my pick: Penn-Plax Cascade), a tank heater (recommended: submersible aquarium heater), a basking dock (my pick: floating basking platform), and a soft sand substrate. Here is my foolproof softshell tank setup guide.

Introduce, then observe. Put the pair together and watch closely for the first few days. Some pairs click, others fight. If you see real aggression, separate them and try again later.

Separate after success. Once you have witnessed a few matings, move the male out. Constant male attention stresses the female right when she needs to put her energy into eggs.

Nesting: What The Female Does Next

A few weeks after mating, the female starts acting restless. She will spend way more time out of the water, pacing and sniffing around the land area.

She is hunting for a nesting spot.

In the wild, softshells nest on sunny sandbars and riverbanks close to the water. In captivity, you need to offer her a nesting box with at least 8 to 12 inches of moist sand or a sand-soil mix.

When she finds a spot she likes, she digs a flask-shaped hole with her hind feet, deposits the eggs, covers everything, and walks away. No parental care. Softshell moms are strictly “lay and leave.”

One warning: if a gravid female cannot find a suitable nesting spot, she may hold the eggs and become egg-bound. If she is pacing for days without laying, add better nesting options and call a reptile vet if it continues.

Softshell Turtle Egg Care And Incubation

Softshell eggs are different from most turtle eggs, and that changes how you handle them.

They are nearly perfect spheres, about the size of a ping-pong ball, with rigid, brittle shells instead of soft leathery ones. They crack easily, so handle them like they owe you money and might run.

Here is the incubation playbook:

1. Mark the top of each egg with a soft pencil before moving it. Once the embryo attaches to the shell wall, rotating the egg can kill it.
2. Dig the eggs out carefully and transfer them to an egg incubator (recommended: reptile egg incubator), or a plastic container with a ventilated lid.
3. Use vermiculite or perlite mixed 1:1 with water by weight. The mix should clump when squeezed without dripping.
4. Half-bury each egg in the medium, marked side up, with space between eggs.
5. Hold the temperature at 82 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit. Remember, sex is genetic in softshells, so pick the steady temperature, not a target sex.
6. Keep humidity around 80 to 90 percent. The damp medium usually handles this on its own. Do not mist the eggs directly.

At those temperatures, expect hatchlings in 55 to 85 days, with most clutches pipping between days 60 and 75. Cooler incubation drags it out longer.

Healthy fertile eggs often “chalk up” within the first weeks, developing a brighter white shell. Eggs that turn moldy, dented, or leaky are duds, and you should remove them.

For the complete walkthrough, including candling and hatchling care, read my softshell turtle egg care guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does softshell turtle mating last?

The actual coupling usually lasts under 20 minutes, though courtship beforehand can take close to an hour. Softshell males do not grip the female with their claws like other turtles.

What time of year do softshell turtles mate?

Mating peaks in spring, roughly April to June for most North American species. Nesting follows from May to July, and the eggs hatch between August and October.

Can a female softshell turtle lay eggs without a male?

Yes. Like chickens, female turtles can lay infertile eggs with no male around. And thanks to sperm storage, a female that mated months ago can still produce fertile eggs.

How many eggs do softshell turtles lay?

Anywhere from about 4 to 38 eggs per clutch depending on the species and the female’s size. Florida softshells can lay multiple clutches a year, sometimes totaling over 100 eggs.

Does incubation temperature decide the sex of softshell hatchlings?

No. Unlike most turtles, softshells have genetic sex determination with ZZ/ZW chromosomes. Temperature does not change the sex ratio, so incubate for health, not gender.

Before You Go

Softshell turtles are the rebels of the turtle world. They skip the claw-grip mating, they ignore the temperature-equals-sex rule, and their females make the males wait the better part of a decade.

If you are serious about breeding them, start with the basics: a confirmed pair, a roomy deep-water setup, and a proper nesting area. Get those right, and the turtles handle the rest.

Already have eggs on the way? Jump straight to my softshell egg care guide so you are ready before the digging starts.

And if you are still picking your turtles, here are the best softshell species to keep as pets.