General Care Discussion :: Laying egg in water?

[sincebirth]

Is it possible or if females can lay eggs on water? I think one of my females are ready, unfortunately I do not have land area on my pond. They only have a basking area.

Signs: upon reading some thread here, I saw sticky slime coming out from her tail part which makes the water cloudy even after 100% WC on the pond.

I saw in YouTube that they can lay eggs without land(just in a floor, literally) but in the water I'm to sure?

Thanks!

[penelope]

Is she showing other signs of being gravid?
http://www.redearslider.com/reproduction.html
To answer the original question: what they 'can' do and should do are different things. I am curious, what type of ground is the pond built in?
Trust me, if she is showing signs of being gravid, then do as much as posibble to make an area to lay eggs.
They sometimes lay eggs in water- not by choice; but out of desperation

[steve]

They can expel eggs in water, though it's not the preferred method but it's certainly better than egg binding (retained eggs). How big is your pond and are all your RES in it?

Edit: Penelope beat me to the punch...

[sincebirth]

Thanks Penelope and Steve!

I'm not sure if I can consider the sign that she wants to get out of the pond is gravid already(trying to reach out the wall) Their enclosure is a concrete pond no soil or gravel under for easy cleaning, their basking area is a large boulder only. The pond is 4feet deep and 15,000gal. I only put 2feet deep of water to be safe with my little daughters. Their diet consist of fish pellets, sometimes dog pellets and I occasionally put water lettuce and water hyacinth and most of the time live fish. They are all together with my turtles, no aggresion with other species because I make sure they are well fed.

The males are always trying to do the mating rituals but the females are always ignoring them.I have 4males the youngest is two years old and the rest almost five. Both of my females are 5-6 years old all and I have them since they were hatchlings three males came from my neighbor which they can no longer take care and 1male when i bought him is a hatchling. 6RES total. there is also a giant albino gourami and 3gator gars In the pond.

I have plans making another pond with a land area as soon as budget permits or I might DIY a fenced land area and bury a water tub for their swimming area however there are a lot of stray cats which may be a predator for them.

[steve]

I would imagine it's harder to recognize the restless behavior if she's in a pond.

[sincebirth]

Yes Steve you're right. However I think I know the reason why they are eager to get out of the pond... Over the past weeks my country experience continuous rains and some bad weather, so maybe the temperature of the water is cold due to the weather.. Only short sunlight appears on a single day...

I will re-locate them ASAP to be sure. Thanks guys!