General Care Discussion :: Howl long inbetween clutches???

[AZCAT98]

I believe my turtle laid her eggs in mid-april. She kept coming out of the pond every day looking for a nesting site which I believe she foound as she stayed all day and night under a deer-grass bush in my yard. So I presume she layed her eggs there as she wasn't coming out of the pond for the last 3-4 weeks. But the last 2 days she has been coming out of the pond again, right after the sprinklers go off, and spends all day out of the pond looking for another nesting site.

Can she have another clutch aleady or is it the same clutch?

Thanks

[SpotsMama]

According to this link, they can lay three to four clutches in a season, so I guess it's possible she's working on another clutch:

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

[DavidY]

She must be a very healthy girl!

[marisa]

If she laid eggs in mid April, she's probably continuing to lay eggs as they develop inside of her and need to be expelled. Are you sure she laid eggs in mid-April? Perhaps she didn't.

[AZCAT98]

That's the question Marisa. Not sure exactly if she laid them in April, but she was coming out of the pond every day for 2 weeks, stayed all day & night in one spot(only time she stayed out all night) and then she stopped coming out...until yesterday that is.

[steve]

Have you tried to feel for the eggs? I think there 6-8 weeks between clutches for my girl last year. It does sound she is laying a few at a time.

How closely did you observe her when she was coming out of the pond? When my female is making her nest, she's in sort of a trance and doesn't notice someone close by. You should be able to be close enough to observe her.

[DavidY]

Did you try digging up the eggs from where she stayed under the bush the first time?

[AZCAT98]

Steve-I haven't tried to feel for the eggs. When she does come out (when my sprinklers are going off) she walks right across the grass looking for a nesting spot. Yesterday she dug herself deep into another deer grass, but when I got home from work she had already returned to her pond. Not sure how long she was there yesterday, but she was out all day wednesday.

David, no I didn't try to dig them up. Talking to a few people who have had successful clutches laid in AZ I thought it would be best to leave them where they were. They are in full shade all day under a 4' tall deer grass. I'm thinking/hoping that they'll be okay there.

[marisa]

Is this the first time she's appeared to be needing to lay eggs? New "mothers" are sometimes rather clumsy at this, even making nests shallower than they should be. If you feel for eggs and they're not fully developed, you might not feel anything you could identify as eggs.

Last summer three wild females (that I actually saw), came up from the pond to lay eggs. Two were old hands, going immediately to the lawn to dig nests and lay. The third, who was smaller and look considerably younger, kind of just wandered around, even starting to go into the garage before she turned around and settled under a rosebush. She stay there for a good part of the day. Something tells me that she didn't lay her eggs there, though.