General Care Discussion :: Here's some dumb questions that probably have been asked...

[Cade]

1. Someone told me yesterday that turtles grow to the size of their tanks...is this true because I thought they just grow and you need to upgrade their tank for them?

2. We are 99.9% sure our turtle (5) is a female, if you do not have other turtles does she still need to lay eggs? I have no idea???


Thanks,
Cade

[Kemul]

1. RES grows to about 4" during the first year. The following years, a RES grow
about 1" per year until the maximum size of about 10". RES will keep growing
(during growth period) regardless of the tank size. So it would be nice to have a
big tank so the RES can continue to move freely.

2. A female turtle will still lay eggs even if she's living alone. The eggs won't be
fertilized. Think of it like chicken.

[TheComputerGremlin]

Kemul has it perfect. Ideally, you want a tank that is 10 gallons per inch of shell, and if you have a female, she can get as big as 12 inches, so you may end up needing a 100-120 gallon tank. And a female may or may not lay, whether a male is present or not. Just be ready for any gravid signs.

[Cade]

At what age do they lay eggs and what are the signs and what do you do when they show those signs?

Thanks again for any replies

[SpotsMama]

Here's some info on egg laying for you:

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

When a female is gravid, her behavior changes. She gets very anxious to get out of her tank and losses her appetite. She'll need some help with the egg laying - she should have access to either a nesting box or some time out-of-doors (supervised at all times, of course).

Do a search on "eggs" or "gravid" on here and you should find lots of good threads from people whose turtles have been through it.

[bigG]

Last month, I just went through my female RES first "egg laying." She would splash and swim to get my attention. I must of took her outside about a half a dozen times and supervised her "digging." I checked everytime but no eggs. Then my wife noticed some egg remnants after I placed her back in the tank. She had discharged her egg(s) and immediately devoured them. She was back to normal after that.