General Care Discussion :: Painted turtle and algae, eggs

[Parker's owners]

We have 2 painted turtles and I have the following questions:

1. Algae Question: We have a small, 2 1/2 year old Midland Painted turtle (MiniMe) in a 30 gallon tank with a canister filter that runs continuously, a 5.0 UV bulb, a heat lamp, floating log, and the tank is in front of a window that gets direct sun in the morning. We feed the turtle in the tank, with reptomin, dried shrimp, and watercress (we put a new bundle of watercress in the tank each week). The tank, however, develops such an extreme algae overgrowth that the water is nearly opaque by the end of each week. Further, the turtle is growing some algae on his shell. We have none of this problem with our other turtle (who we have had for 5 years) who is in another tank. We scrub MiniMe's tank weekly but the algae just grows back. Any ideas of what we are doing wrong?

2. Egg laying quantity question: Our other turtle (Parker) is a large 5 year old Midland Painted, and every now and then she lays 1-2 eggs, either in the water, or on her floating log. The last time she laid eggs was several months ago. We recently built a dry area with pebbles next to the tank, with a bridge so she can get to it, and have seen her digging into the gravel with her back legs. My question: is it normal for a Painted turtle to just lay one or two egg several months a part? I was reading on RES site, that a Slider lays a clutch of about 20 eggs. I understand in many ways that Painteds are similar to Sliders. Should she be laying much larger clutches. Does only 1-2 (unfertilized) eggs mean she is egg bound, or is this normal for Painteds?

Thanks for any advice!

[michaelg]

To your algae question: I would move the tank away from the window and see if that helps. The glass on the window filters out the beneficial UVB, but still promotes algae growth. You also need to clean the canister and the hoses because there is most likely algae still in them that allows the algae to grow back quicker. After cleaning everything, move the tank from the window.

I can't answer your question about laying leggs.

-Michael

[steve]

1) I agree with michaelg

2) Turtles kept active all year round can become gravid at anytime. So if she's just laying a couple of eggs at regular intervals, it shouldn't be a problem. That's mainly my opinion though, hopefully others will chime in too.

[Diamondbacks4Life]

agree with michaelh and steve but just to add on a little more. Painteds lay much less then a res only average about 3-7eggs.