General Care Discussion :: Possibly gravid female digging...

[RES4ever]

Sandy is digging in the back of her tank at the moment. Is it possible for them to lay their eggs in water like I've read? She only stops for air.

[BullDog]

It's possible, but far from the best situation. RES usually only lay their eggs in the water as a last resort.

Best option is if you can take her outside (as long as the temp is OK) and let her dig around in a place where theres loose dirt (turtles are pretty picky about where they lay their eggs!) Let her wander around outside for a while, and see if she does any digging there.

If you can't go outside or there isn't a good place you can take her, get a big rubbermaid storage bin and fill it with a 50% soil/sand mixture, and put her in there. Make sure the soil is plenty deep, since they like to dig deep. However, I haven't heard if many owners have had luck with this strategy...

[RES4ever]

Well... The only loose soil around is covered with hosta plants and I don't want to loose her in there. I already have a rubbermaid and sand so I'm partly there. It is raining right now so I won't be looking for soil at the moment. She was in the rubbermaid with shallow sand earlier but she probably knows it isn't that deep.
Thanks.

[TheComputerGremlin]

You might want to buy the soil, rather than dig it up from outside. There might be pesticides lurking in the outdoor soil. If Sandy has been around your males, you'll need to take precaution when discarding the eggs in case they are viable.

[turtlelover818]

congrats cute do u have pics of the eggs?

[SpotsMama]

Is she digging with her front feet or her back feet?

Is she digging under water or on a dry place above the water line?

How big is she (length of shell, front to back, not counting the curve in the shell)?

[RES4ever]

turtlelover818: She hasn't layed anything yet.

SpotsMama: 1. Both

2. underwater and tries to find a spot to dig in my hosta plants but I won't let her in there because I will never find her again.

3. she is slightly over 6 in.

[turtlelover818]

k.

[SpotsMama]

Normally a gravid female will dig with her hind legs in dry soil. She digs a little hole - a nest - for her eggs. A gravid female in water will usually splash around frantically trying to get out - so she can find a place on dry land to dig a hole and lay her eggs. They don't like to lay eggs in water and only do it when they have to. I've never heard of a gravid female digging under water with her front feet. Your girl is big enough to be gravid but the behavior doesn't sound typical. Have you read up on turtle reproduction? Here's a good link:

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

[industrial_girl_2000]

A gravid female will not be "digging" in the tank. She will be "frantically trying to get out of the tank as if her life depended on it." She will make so much ruckus, noise, going up/down her basking dock & splashing loudly in the water that it is physically impossible to ignore her.

Is she doing anything like this, or is she just swimming against the glass? Just trying to find out what is going on. Can you post a video?