release at 3 weeks,
in the wild only 1 % of progeny reach adulthood, hence the up to 200 babies they can have at a time
in the first 24 hrs after birth approx 50 % are eaten or die so they have a slim chance in the wild
In the 80's i used to catch and sell them to the pet trade so as i was taking from the wild i think its only fair that i replaced more than i had taken, renewable resource and respect as well
at 3 weeks of age their chances of survival to adulthood were greatly increased, let nature take its course after that.
it is just a practice i have kept up, if you keep lots of horses you have babies to deal with
our turtles lay approx 400 eggs each year but we only hatch 80 as we can only sell about that many each year as responsible owners can be hard to find