General Care Discussion :: is my turtle "pregnant"?

[howzitnani]

My female turtle, along with my 2 males have been frisky lately. They are only about 1-1.5 years old but I'm worried that she may be gravid, but I'm not sure what that would look like or how she would act in that situation. The vet (about 4 months ago) gave her a clean bill of health and said that she is pretty big for her age. Is it possible for her to become gravid at that early an age?

a very worried mommy

[howzitnani]

here are some pixs of of my turtle that I think is gravid. help!!!! I don't know what to look for.

[SpotsMama]

She's very young to be gravid. How large is she? Usually a female won't lay eggs until she's at least 5" long (straight shell length).

What size enclosure are they in? Unless they are in a very large tank or an outdoor pond, you should think about separating them. Females will lay eggs even without being with a male, but she won't lay as often (generally speaking). More important, it's pretty common for males to begin to harrass females when they mature, and after awhile the females get very tired of it and start attacking the males. Since the females are larger, they can do a lot of damage quickly.

When they are gravid, females tend to lose their appetite and struggle frantically to get out of their tank. Here's some reading on the subject if you haven't seen it already. Since you have a female, you should learn all you can about the subject, as she'll need special consideration when the time comes.

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

[howzitnani]

she is 7.5 inches long, and we have been having trouble with her escaping out of the outdoor pond. We finally created a ramp with a small enclosure with a small patch of grass so she can go in and out when she wants, without her falling and getting hurt ( the pond is above the ground as we have a cement patio). On the sides of the outdoor pond, she seems to be paddling frantically to get out, even with the ramp on the other end of the pond for her to get out. For the tank in the house, it is about 55 gallons. They are always in here during the night and are put in the outdoor pond during the day. We are curently looking for a bigger tank for the house. As for her eating, she still has a healthy appetite of red and green leaf lettuce, aquatic turtle food, occasionally blood worms and live feeders and cuttle bone.

[zoologist]

may i just say howzitnani, your turtles are absolutely gorgeous and they look VERY healthy. that shell! wow. great job!

[Chrisbarnett]

she seems to be paddling frantically to get out.

This statement, accompanied with the other info you've given make me think you definitely have a gravid turtle on your hands.. Has she had any loss of appetite lately?

[megcornell]

You can gently (very gently... as you can rupture the eggs when they are still internal) palpate right in front of the hind legs to feel for eggs.
It probably wouldn't hurt to give her some time in a nest site. The link spotsmama provided has good info on building one, or if you have a yard you can let her walk around and see what she prefers. Just be sure to watch her, turtles are very quick and can get lost easily.

Also, spotsmama's suggestion about separating them is a very good one. Females do get fed up with the constant harassing from males and as RES are aggressive to begin with, it's not a far leap for them to attack their tank mates. Reptiles aren't like mammals- they don't really bond with each other or form packs or other units. It's everyone for themselves, and if the female constantly feels stressed or threatened she can and will attack, and the results can be deadly.

[TheComputerGremlin]

7.5" female is not a 1-1.5 year old ... Have you had them for that period of time? How large where they when you got them? I'd guess your female is closer to 3-4 years old, considering that her shell is gorgeous.

You also need to decide what you are going to do with the eggs, as they are likely fertile (how big are your males?). Don't leave them to the elements, as if one or more hatch, you may have little babies on your hands.

[PcBuilder14]

That's the reason I'm hoping my turtle is a male so I don't have to deal with any eggs, fertile or not!

[howzitnani]

michaelangelo (the female) was just the size of a quarter in mid may 2007, so were Darwin and Einstein (gift for mother's day 2007). Beowulf was the size of a half dollar (he was adopted) in feb. 2008 and shakesphere was the size of a quarter in feb 2008 (got him for valentines day)

I just measure them all:
Michael angelo (female) is 7.5 inches long
Einstein (male) is 5.5 inches long
Darwin (male) is 4.5-5 inches long
Beowulf (possible male ) 4 inches long
Shakesphere (undetermined ) 3.5 inches long.

And thank you all for all the helpful informations. I will be calling a carpenter to build up around the above ground pond with an area (covered with astroturf ) in one half of the area and a sand lot in the other half. i am currently drawing up the plans for this.

I would like to buy another, bigger pond for them as well and possibly connect the two pond with the dry area connecting them. Soon as I can get this together, I will post more pics

[Nettle]

Wow. It's nothing short of incredible that all of your turtles are so big after such a short amount of time. My turtle is 3.5 inches and a year old.

How big is your pond? Do you know the gallonage?

[PcBuilder14]

Gosh they've grown really fast!

[howzitnani]

The outdoor pond is 60 gallons with a few crayfish, several very fast guppies and a few comets. plus I have some floating plants to provide O2 for the fish. I have a 20 gallon on the side for more plants and baby guppies. We are currently looking for another pond to add to the habitat so that they can choose where they want to go.

[TheComputerGremlin]

I just measure them all:
Michael angelo (female) is 7.5 inches long
Einstein (male) is 5.5 inches long
Darwin (male) is 4.5-5 inches long
Beowulf (possible male ) 4 inches long
Shakesphere (undetermined ) 3.5 inches long.

By these standards, if these turtles are kept together, they need at minimum (at this moment in time) 7.5+5.5+5+4+3.5 = 25.5x10 gallons = 255 gallons of tank. Anything less than this and aggression is sure to arise.

When these five are full grown, they'll be needing over 500 gallons of pond, and if you have any other critters in the pond, that will just add to it. I think it's time for a serious upgrade on your end.

And are you feeding them every other day? Your female is huge for such a short amount of time, I'd be worried that at this growth rate she may start to exhibit pyramiding if she is being overfed.

[steve]

The "feeling" for eggs mentioned above is a good, but not 100% way to determine a gravid turtle. If you are having a hard time getting your finger in there, let your turtle crawl around somewhere flat, and when she stops and rest, go for it. If you're holding her, she'll probably just tuck in.