20 September – 31 October
the coastal calendar, unshifted
Basking on logs in slow water — Vransko jezero, the Neretva, the Kopački rit channels.
The female walks hundreds of metres from water to lay, and that overland trip in late May is when most are killed on roads. Hatchlings often stay in the nest chamber over winter and emerge the following spring.
photos, sightings and recordings, off this site
where this species is on the list
| Phase | When | Length | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| wintering in cover | 1 November – 14 March | 134 days | Reptile dormancy — sluggish rather than truly asleep, and broken by warm spells. |
| going about the year | 15 March – 9 April | 26 days | Feeding, holding territory, doing nothing the calendar singles out. |
| courting | 10 April – 24 May | 45 days | Song, display, fighting, scent-marking — pairs forming or reaffirming. |
| on eggs | 25 May – 24 August | 92 days | Clutch laid and being incubated, or buried and left to the sun. |
| raising young | 25 August – 19 September | 26 days | Dependent young in the nest, den or burrow, being fed. |
| young dispersing | 20 September – 31 October | 42 days | Young leaving for good, looking for a territory of their own. |