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Phil, Thank you for the insight on the other species. I understand this is also very true for dbts. Fertility drops with successive clutches. A male from a couple years ago can easily share current offspring with a current mating male on the same female. I have only had 2 females that produced and could never have contacted more than one male. I have seen that male dbts get an eye for a certain female and follow her more than others. Olefactory cues seem to stimulate the males. In Graptemys, a female may have two or more males climbing on her at once and I have seen upto three males mate with a single female in a few minutes. Copulation in Graptemys and Malaclemys also is very, very short in duration. I have seen only a single publication with the description similar to what I have observed in activity and duration. I think it was observed by Carl Ernst. I will try to find this reference again. Phil, I also wanted to know if you know much about Chelonia mydas beaching in numbers during cold weather in N. FL, I think I heard the local gulf temperature dropped to around 50F. Many also were found dead if I’m not mistaken. Thanks, Scott — In diamondbackterrapins@y…, allman_p