General Care Discussion :: What age do females lay eggs from?

[Weeven]

Hi I'm getting a bit confused and stressed about my turtles reproducing lol! I have been reading that the female is to be 3-5 years old and 5", the male 2-5 at 4"

My female is 5.1" and male is just over 4" but both are only 1 year old, can the still have sex this young? I see him fluttering his nails in her face over the past week, I have felt the female between the tail and her legs and have felt lumps but i am unsure if they are eggs....why would the male still try to mate if she is gravid?

perhaps she is just ready to lay but they aren't fertile, I panicked and setup a nest area just in case, any more advice would be great, I hope shes ok!

[pinkcadillac]

Im pretty sure 1 years is still too young for RESs to be interested in reproducing. The male fluttering might be more of sign of aggression rather than a mating ritual (even though they normally go hand in hand).

Is the female acting gravid? Has she been looking like she is trying to escape? Or has she stopped eating? Or overall acting restless? These are more certain signs that she is looking to lay eggs.

5" is kinda large for a one year old RES. How is their diet?

[megcornell]

How large is their tank?

Feeling behind a female's back legs will not indicate the presence of eggs. You need to feel GENTLY in front of her rear legs.

[Weeven]

Sorry they are 4" and 4.1", seem I cant use a ruler! Is that still too big? Well i have the food pelets from tetrafauna and also have supa turtle food which is like dried shrimp, thats the dry stuff. For dinner they get food from the pet store i go too, the owner makes the food herself and it contains mince i think and just proteins and calcium, and occasionally i would give them bloodworm.

I wasn't too sure which side of the rear leg it was, i did try both sides gently, turtle made it a hard job by kicking his legs lol

This is good news that they are too young, this time next year maybe? will give me time to prepare! thanks

[megcornell]

Did you mention how large their tank is?
Fluttering their claws can be a sign of mating OR it can be a sign of aggression.

[Weeven]

The tank is around 100ltrs I think which is 26 or 27 gallons, and it is getting to small to fast. I am upgrading relatively soon hopefully to a number closer to 100 gallons.

They have never been aggressive towards each other, and I feed them separately so they don't fight.