My Rockie is about 5 inches. She is almost 3 years old. She had been acting strange recently.
She poops a lot in some days (3 to 4 times a day vs. once a day), not everyday though.
On Tuesday night, we changed water for her. After the water change, she seems restless and keep digging with her arms at the corner of the tank. She didn't stop until I turned off the light. The afternoon of the next day, I saw some powder like substance on the floor of the tank and there's a small area that looked a little yellow-brownish. Could it be because she lay an egg and ate it and that yellow-brownish thing is from the egg? I don't know what those powder are..... egg shells shouldn't become powder even if she chew it. I had no idea what my turtle did when I went to work.
I was suspecting that she wants to lay eggs. I touched the front of her rear legs but couldn't feel any eggs in there (quite soft when I touch that area). And when she dig in the tank, her rear legs did move but seems like she was using her arms more than her legs.
I bought a bag of organic soil and pour it into a box. Then I put Rockie on the soil. She walked around a little bit then she just wanted to get out of the box. This is the first time she touches soil. And she had soil on her eyes where she tried to wipe it away but got worse as there was soil on her hands, too. I clean her up and put her back to the soil. But she just kept repeating the wipping so I cleaned her and put her back to the tank. I think her eyes were irritated by the soil. She blinks more often in the water..... Hope she'll be okay soon. The box maybe too small for her. She didn't like staying there.
Her filter was leaking the day after after the water change. ~___~ so we have to put her tank down to the floor and have the fan blow dry the carpet and the bottom of the wood stand. We only gave little water to her as that's just her temporary home. The water is about 3 to 4 times her height (laying down, so it's like 3 turtle stacking up on top of each other). After we changed her tank setup, she didn't do the digging anymore.
Does she want to lay eggs? Or it's just a false alarm? It's winter now and I can't take her to the backyard for a walk.
If she really wants to lay eggs, how should I setup the soil so she won't get soil to her eyes?
Thanks in advance.
