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Hi I am new to the board although I have gotten much information from the Turtle Talk site and it has been very helpful - Thank you! My RES is pretty old, I adopted her about 5 or 6 yrs ago from a friend who had her since she was a baby and she is about the size of a dinner plate with extremely strong legs! She was aquarium raised, very social and also eats from my hand. This is her first time laying eggs and I've been stressed out trying to ensure that she's comfortable and I'm meeting all her needs. The first year I got her, I had her in my backyard pond but she was unhappy out there and brought her back in the house, where she prefers to be. She REFUSES to use her nesting box, I have tried to keep her in there but she absolutely doesn't like it and will only lay her eggs in the water. I've been adding a calcium supplement to the fish, that at this point is the only thing she chooses to eat. She's been laying over the past couple weeks and laid 3 in one day. This last egg was so much smaller than the rest and covered in mucus. I am hoping that maybe this could be last one? Can anyone comment or possibly any information about this for me? I am going to contact the vet I finally found in my area that examines / treats turtles but was hoping that perhaps someone could offer some insight in the meantime because I am not sure how soon I would be able to get an appt. and I've found that they do not like to answer questions over the phone.
Thanks, Vicki

It sounds like it might be overactive ovaries. The best thing is to get her to lay them when she can. An x-ray can determine how many eggs she currently has. There are some cases where they are so active they have to be surgically removed and that requires a very risky operation.

Are you able to feel them?