General Care Discussion :: First-time gravid female

[Smoofish268]

Hey everyone,

I'm 99% sure my turtle Rigby is carrying eggs, and it's her first time. She's 6 1/2", and showing the signs of restlessness and digging with her hind legs frequently, not to mention she's basking like crazy. Realizing those signs, today I gently felt behind her back legs and met resistance. I've read the Basic Care page about nesting, but was hoping to get some more questions answered.

Her tank is set up with a couple of "logs" for her to rest on plus her floating basking area, but during the day she spends her time outdoors in our 160 gallon pond. Neither of which give her access to soil to dig in, however I try to let her wander the yard supervised for a little while every couple of days. I'm wondering how I should intoduce her to a nesting area and what I could use for one since I don't have a fenced off area for her to explore?

Also, how long can she retain the eggs before it may cause harm? I don't think she's had them long since I just noticed the signs, but I'm out of town from tomorrow afternoon through Sunday afternoon. I'd like to get a nesting site set up tomorrow morning to give her as many chances as possible to lay the eggs before I leave. If she doesn't, will 24 hours with no nesting site do her any harm? Also, how often should I expect this to happen now? There's no male around so there's no chance of the eggs being fertile (I couldn't keep them if they were, anyway), so how should I destroy them? Are there any other suggestions or things I should know?

I've been an RES mommy for 8 years, but anything new always makes me somewhat paranoid and I don't want any harm to come to my girl.

[steve]

You'd want for her to get access to the dirt sooner than later. Does she act restless at specific times of the day? Mine would act that way in the late morning/afternoon. If so, you can put her near the nesting area around that time and if she's in the mood, she'll move over to check out the area. You don't need a fenced off area if you are supervising her. Spookster made a great area but his turtle just didn't like it. http://designqueue.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=14

Over the winter my female was gravid again. I had made an indoor nesting area but it proved to be very unpopular. She stopped acting gravid after a few days, but I could still feel the eggs. After about 2 months, she left 2 huge eggs in the water a week apart. A month ago, she had laid a small egg in the water, but showed no signs of being gravid. She laid another small one a couple of weeks ago in the water. You can just leave the eggs where they are or dig them up and throw them away.