General Care Discussion :: Nesting area for female?

[mogall]

I've been reading about what to expect with my female RES (approximate age is 3 years) and egg laying. Our male is the same age. From what I can tell, the advice is to have a specific area for her to lay her eggs and that not having the proper environment may lead to her not letting go of the eggs, leading to major problems. What has anyone done in providing an area such at this for their females?

A nest area is very important for her to lay her eggs naturally. If she does not lay her eggs, she might lay eggs in the water or retain them, which would cause egg binding. If the turtle has laid one or two eggs in the water, you still need to provide a nesting area. It is likely that the entire clutch was not laid and she is still gravid.

[Cramer]

I bought a rubber made container, roughly about the size of 1/4 the tank and set it on top of an upside down box and secured it with wire. It wasn't deep enough, cuz I heard her scraping the bottom, but I'll get a deeper one.
http://s131.photobucket.com/player.swf? ... &os=1&ap=1

The only way she would lay, is if the nesting area was in her tank.

[SpotsMama]

A lot of people have reported on setting up nesting areas for their turtles on here. Try doing a search on "eggs" and look at some of the threads.

Be warned - some turtles refuse to lay in the nesting box. They are rather particular and some want to be outside in the dirt. That poses challenges at this time of year if you live in Canada! Other turtles lay in their nesting boxes just fine - hopefully yours is one of those.

Have you followed the links at the bottom of this page? There is some advice on setting up nesting boxes that may be helpful.

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

[Bumby's Mom]

Nyxie laid hers in the tank over night. I tried giving her a rubbermaid container without water but she got really upset about being in there so I put her back in the tank.

[steve]

Here's a photo gallery from Spookster: http://www.designqueue.com/gallery/thum ... p?album=14

Females can be very picky, so she might not like the accommodations you provide. Indoor tubs seem to very unpopular for me too.

[Spookster]

Good luck is all I can say. We've tried everything with our female. I even let her roam around in our new big back yard with lots of place to lay eggs and she still refuses to lay them anywhere but in her tank water. We just keep an eye on her and fish the eggs out and keep count. She lays the full clutch in her tank. She has got to be the most persnickety turtle on the planet.

[mogall]

Great pics Spookster!
I also did as you suggested Spotmama - helped a lot. Thanks everyone. I feel better knowing that others have made it through this and that it's just something you have to adapt to according to the turtle. I think I'll get the old 20gal ready for this.

I read about the "courting behavior" of the male

swimming backwards in front of her (in a face to face position) with his front legs extended outwards. His long nails would then vibrate or shake (flutter) very quickly in her face.

now I'm not sure if my female (Crush) is a female because this is what she does to our male Nicky (is he really male?).....

In finally got some pictures uploaded to photobucket. Here are a few. It's the kids new setup we got them Christmas day so it's a bit bare, but they LOVE IT. Can't wait to get the upper area basking add-on completed!.
Any input / enlightenment would be greatly appreciate.






















Thanks again.

[SpotsMama]

I don't see any male front toenails on your pair. How long are they (measure straight shell length)? From the picture they both look big enough to have sprouted the impressive Eward Scissorhands type nails by now if they were male. Females do the fluttering thing as well as males (perhaps not as often). Their faces look rather feminine to me, too.

[octpusgirl8]

I agree, Spots. Looks like two ladies to me. Twice the egg laying excitement!

[mogall]

The first picture below is Nicky (who we thought was male), mainly due to his longer tail.


This next is Crush, our female (smaller tail)


Here they are together (you can see the Nicky's nails on one foot - by the intake screen)



And here Nicky is the one on top.....


I guess I was focusing on Nicky's tail to determine sex - maybe it's just that Crush's tail is really small.

Crush is approx 7.5" and Nicky is 5 3/4".

Two girls is just fine. I'm not in any position to add more little one's and I would have a hard time giving them up.

Thanks for your help.

[steve]

I agree, Spots. Looks like two ladies to me. Twice the egg laying excitement!

Or nightmare!

[SpotsMama]

On a male those front toenails can grow to be an inch long. And while one of your girl's tails is relatively large (for a girl), it's not like the big male tails. They are fine looking girls by the way.

[Dein211]

the best way to sex your turtle is to look at the placement of the tail vent. on females its just past the plastern and on male's its a little farther out. looks like a couple of beautiful ladies to me.

[mogall]

Well, you were right! No sooner you replied that both looked like girls, they now are exibiting gravid behavior..... They're making me as nervous as they are acting. The little one is so desperate to get out that I have found her on her back on her basking several times. I set up that 20gal with dirt soil from outside, but no takers - they freaked. All I can do now is hope they are both successful at 'in-tank' laying and pray it's over soon.....