General Care Discussion :: How to tell if an Egg is fertilized?

[Pizza]

How do you tell if an egg a turtle has laid is viable for hatchlings? Right now I have four adult RES, three females and one male, the largest being 11-12 inches, and I suspect it has eggs, because of its relentless scratching and swimming into the glass. I'm not sure if the male has done that mating thing with the female(s), since I'm not home most of the day.

So, any physical signs that an egg is good to go, or a dud?

[CountryGirl68]

If I'm not mistaken, you should be able to hold a light up to it, like they do with chicken eggs, and see the embryo. Just make sure you don't turn the egg from the position it was laid or then it will become a dud. Here's some info about someone else here who's turtle laid eggs.

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=54388&highlight=#54388

[SpotsMama]

Does your female have a dry nesting spot to go to?

[Pizza]

I'll have one up in the next few days, I don't have any sand to make one yet.

[Hoooneylynn]

If that egg was laid in the water, and was in more than 10 seconds, its no good anyways. I would recommend getting some sand ASAP so if there are more eggs, she will not retain them inside of her. This could be deadly.