Urgent Care :: turtle laid eggs

[rturtle1]

!! my turtle laid eggs and i dont realy know what to do. I have a male in the tank.with two females. i dont like abortion so i will not destroy the eggs.someone give me a list of supplies that i need inorder to incubate!! please help

How big is your turtle? about 7 inches
How long have you had it? 6 years

What is the water temperature? 75
Did you use a thermometer? yes
Are you using a water heater? How much water is in there? yes 150 gallons
Are you using a water conditioner? yes
Are you using any filtration? yes

What is the basking temperature? 85
Is there a basking light? yes
Is there a basking platform that is easy to climb on? yes
What kind is it or what is it made out of? plexi glass and soil/ sand
Is there a UVB light? yes

What have you been trying to feed it? nutrafin and fruits
When was the last time your turtle ate? 2day

How big is the tank/pond/enclosure? 175 gallon
Is the tank near a window?
Is the tank in a room with a lot of activity?yes

Have you read the Basic Care section? yes
Have you searched the forums for similar situations? yes

Is there any other unusual activity/symptoms? laid eggs

[SpotsMama]

Here's a link with info on the subject. On the page are links to other sites that may provide additional help.

http://www.redearslider.com/reproduction.html

If your turtle laid eggs in the water, they are most likely not viable. They are pretty delicate. In the future, you should keep the male separated from the females so that they won't lay viable eggs. Females can lay up to 20 eggs a year and there is no way that a person can keep up with all the little turtles that would result, much less find homes for them.

Another reason to separate them is that they will very likely start fighting in the near future. Turtles confined to an aquarium get very aggressive with other turtles and it's rare that they can continue to co-exist for long - especially when there is a male involved.

If your females are separated from the male, keep in mind that they will continue to lay eggs from time to time but the eggs won't be fertile. You'll need to prepare a nesting area for them and watch for behavior that indicates they are gravid - loss of appetite and great anxiety trying to get out of the tank.

[TheComputerGremlin]

To help your moral conscious, take the eggs and boil them in hot water. Technically, it's a "Schroedinger's cat" situation, you don't know if they are viable or not, so you can't feel guilty because there may not be an embryo in there. And the world doesn't need more turtles.

[steve]

Also, your turtle is still young and is not likely producing very good/healthy eggs yet.

[marisa]

Did your turtle lay her eggs in the water? If so, there's less of a chance their viable. If you took them out and didn't keep them in the same position, it's also likely they're not viable.

[rturtle1]

the eggs are in soil/sand mix. i put an nesting area in the tank when i bought it.i wont destroy or do anythind to them.i discovered them while cleaning my tank on monday and i am pretu shure they were not just laid.i plan on incubateing and keeping on giving to a rehoming org.please give me a list of supplies i need to incubate. i did not flip the eggs.please help!!

[TheComputerGremlin]

I fear that most people on the board don't have experience with breeding and may not be able to help you much! Did you go to the link posted above? You can also try to contact a professional breeder and ask them what do to. There is another turtle forum at http://www.turtletimes.com/forums/index.php? which might have different people there. I'm sorry, but I have no idea what to do. If they are anything like chicken eggs, you have to incubate them at a warm temperature and turn them periodically and I have really no idea what happens when they are born. I think you can do the flashlight test that they do on chicken eggs, where you shine a flashlight or candle or incandescent bulb and look into the egg and see if there is a growing baby or not. At least that can give you an idea if you even have viable eggs or not.

[Take-One]

Do the lightbulb test like coumputergremlin said . Also TAKE THE EGGS OUT OF WATER!

[marisa]

You don't turn them periodically. If you do, the embryo will drown.

[Bumby's Mom]

Finding homes for baby turtles is not an easy task. If you take the eggs after they are laid then it isn't "abortion" the embryo doesn't even start growing until it is in proper conditions. Go into a dark room and hold the eggs over a flashlight, if there is anything alive in there you will be able to tell. I would NOT put them over a lightbulb as that will heat the eggs up. Turtle eggs really don't need an incubator they only need proper tempertures and a bit of humidity but if you don't have room or homes already set up then it is really a terrible thing to hatch them. I had my eggs on paper towels in my bedroom with no other heat source then the house temperture (78-82 degrees) and I lightly misted them every other day. Do a google search.

[Freedonian]

the eggs are in soil/sand mix. i put an nesting area in the tank when i bought it.i wont destroy or do anythind to them.i discovered them while cleaning my tank on monday and i am pretu shure they were not just laid.i plan on incubateing and keeping on giving to a rehoming org.please give me a list of supplies i need to incubate. i did not flip the eggs.please help!!

This is depressing and immoral. With the number of RES's abandoned every year, to bring more into the world is not a really good idea. And what makes you so sure that the rehoming organization which you have in mind will even accept red-ear sliders? There are rehoming and adoption organizations that refuse to handle them because there are so many. Lots of people buy those colourful little 1" bright green hatchlings because they are so cute, but that little hatchling loses it bright colour and grows into a drab 10" or larger turtle that requires 125 gallons of water that must be constantly cleaned. And there are so many owners who want to get rid of such turtles that many organizations refuse to handle them. So, they are released into the wild. And that is part of the reason that in many areas of the world, red-ear sliders are considered an invasive species that is supplanting other, native species of turtles.

A large part of responsible pet-ownership consists of being responsible for any offspring that your pet might produce. Planning to give the offspring to an adoption agency is highly irresponsible.

If you want, for moral reasons, to make sure the eggs hatch, so that there are even more red-ear sliders in the world, you need to care for them yourself, not "solve" the problem by giving them to an adoption agency - that is to say, not solve the problem by making them someone else's problem. If your morals require you to make the mess, let's see if your morals require YOU to take care of the mess. And if they don't, then they are not really morals.

[mikee]

Freedonian -- Get a life and don't be so judgemental. I/we don't need this crap on this site. I am probably harsh with some of my comments on this site, but you are out of line. -- Mod!! Please lock this out.-- Mikee

[marisa]

rturtle1, if the eggs were in the water for any length of time (you said you thought they had not just been laid), they most likely aren't viable. You might try the link above to see if there's information there you can use.

Members have given you their opinions, only you can do what you think is best.