General Care Discussion :: Bumpy laid her eggs

[AZCAT98]

This morning I noticed 2 eggs in Bumpy's nesting spot, but she did not bury them. There may have been more under the two eggs, but her not burying them concerns me. I did carefully cover them with 3-4 inches of soil/dirt. One other concern I have is that one of the eggs was slightly dented. Any chance it will be okay?

thanks

[jenaero]

Is there a male res in her tank? Either way, I'd suggest throwing the eggs away rather than incubating them. RES are bred by the millions and there are so many unwanted turts out there. She's probably got more to lay.

[AZCAT98]

There are 2 males and in the pond.
I wondered if maybe she wasn't done and was planning on returning to the nest to lay more. She was kinda interupted by the cat who likes to drink from the drip line a few feet away.

[jenaero]

Sounds like she will. Keep the cat away for a bit.

[DavidY]

The eggs will look dented when they start to dehydrate. That will happen if they don't get buried after they're laid. Usually the will firm up again if you put them in a slightly moistened substrate again within a reasonable amount of time.

[AZCAT98]

Thanks Dave, I will add a little water to her nest when I get home from work.
Does 2 eggs seem like an unusally small clutch to you?

[marisa]

How big is your female? Has she laid eggs before? Younger/smaller mature females tend to lay smaller clutches than older/larger ones, and a clutch can consist of two eggs, but this is really on the small side. If, as you think, her laying was interrupted, it's likely she has more to lay.

[AZCAT98]

She's about 9 inches. This is likely her first year laying eggs as I rescued her last summer when the previous owner had to get rid of her becasue she developed shell rot (no UVB in tank). She's adapted nicely to the pond and is now shell-rot free, but her shell is a little bumpy....hence my neice named her Bumpy.

I'll set up another nesting site for her to see if she has any more eggs to lay.

thanks

[DavidY]

I was just watching a PBS special and said the loggerhead turtles lay their eggs over the course of 2 or 3 nights with a 10 day rest in between because it takes so much energy out of them (because they're so big and heavy). But I wonder if other turtles may do that too.

[AZCAT98]

well she's at it again. She came out of her pond this am, went stright to another deer grass bush and is trying to dig another nest. Not sure if she'll have success there, due to the rocks and the hard ground, so I made another nest for her behind the bush.

This will be her 3rd clutch in 6-7 weeks.

[the_orphaned]

Some animals tend to make a decoy nest. Maybe she wanted others to think her nest is really there while she made another clutch somewhere else.

[AZCAT98]

I can't confim the nest in April, all I know is that she stayed in the same spot all night, returned to her pond in the AM, had an increased appetite and stopped coming out for a few weeks.

The clutch earlier this month I can confirm as I saw two eggs in her nest. Again she stayed out all night, returned to her pond, and starting eating more.

[steve]

Wow, she sounds busy. It's good that she's got plenty of nesting options