General Care Discussion :: Egg Laying (info needed)

[dodgerider]

Hello all

Newbie to this site, I have a female RES over a year old and she recently started her first egg laying run. This has been VERY irritating she went from a clam happy turtle to very aggressive and shown she is a pro at escaping. She climbed out of the 125 gallon tank I had her in and fell over 3 feet to the floor doing so. Anyway.... I would like to know some info on their breading like how many eggs is she going to lay! up to 8 or 9 now and its one to three at a time with almost a week between them. So I would like to know also how long this will take to get over with and when about in the year I will see her do this again. Thank You for any and all help.

[steve]

Egg laying will vary... has she laid any before? Is she with a male RES? How big is she? If you only had her for a year since she was a hatchling, she'll be too small for eggs...

[dodgerider]

I got her around 6-7 inches from a friend she is now a full 12 inches guess thinking about it now had her about 2 years think she is around 3 years old now. This is her first time laying eggs I think that is why she cant lay them all at one time and she is the only RES I have.

[steve]

A 12" RES at only 3yo is quite large. So you are saying she's laying "up to 8 or 9 now and its one to three at a time with almost a week between them"? If that the case, then she's retaining them since she couldn't nest and these will come at (hopefully) when they're ready. How long has this been going on?

[dodgerider]

I will ask my friend how old she was when I got her I cant rember started 3rd shift this week and brain is fried . She has laid 9 eggs now 1 too 3 at a time this has been going on for alil over a month now with the eggs but about three months her behavior being aggressive. I thought about her needing a nesting area so I took some dirt from one of my other pet tanks and got it wet and put her in a make-shift tank with more dirt and some water. However she does not lay eggs in the dirt the only time she lays eggs is in the water my only thought is that she has a hard time getting them out seeing as this is her first time laying eggs but I dont know. Do I have the nesting area wrong? The RES outside lay eggs in wet dirt only around my house so I thought that was right.

[steve]

She doesn't find the nest suitable (they usually don't) and has retained them. At least they're coming out, but next time she shows signs of wanting to lay them, take her outside (provided the temperatures are aaround 75F and she would be under supervision).

[dodgerider]

I can do that take her outside when I can anyway. Just one other question will she calm back down when she is done with all her eggs so I can put her back in the 125 gallon tank I have or not?

[steve]

That "aggressiveness" should only be displayed when she wants to lay them at that particular moment. Is she constantly acting that way (non-stop)?

[dodgerider]

For the most part yes any time you go by her she is hissing. If you hold or get close to where she thinks she can take a nip at you she is trying to do just that. However after she has laid eggs be it one or more you can hold her she just tucks into her shell doesn’t hiss or try and bite just "skittish" is a good way to put it but that only last about a day then she’s back to being frumpy. Thank you for all the help by the way.

[steve]

I don't think I've come across aggressiveness as a symptom in female RES, but let us know how she does!

[industrial_girl_2000]

Oh wow, I have so much sympathy for you. I have dealt with this many times over the years (my baby is over 21 yrs old and at one time I had a male RES in the tank with her). As Steve mentioned, the best thing to do is to take her outside in the sunlight in an open field with soft dirt (farmer's field would be great, just get permission first!) and let her find a spot that is suitable. Be forewarned that this could take several hours for her to walk walk walk until she finds an area.

If it is in the winter and you can't go outside, I had success by putting a cheap child's bean bag in my living room and let the turtle walk around the living room (bean bag was filled with white foam pellets so it was light enough for the turtle to dig underneath it). It's not ideal, but in winter you can't go outside so we had to make do with what we had. Sheba often laid 6+ eggs under that bean bag, and sometimes the egg laying too several days. She would lay 6 eggs one day, then come back the next day and lay 4 more (!). I should mention also that our living room was carpeted and she used to dig with her hind legs in the carpet a lot too.

Once in a while, I would find an egg or two in the tank as well, unfortunately. :\ But the bean bag in the living room helped a lot. The other thing that helped was rehoming our male turtle with one of my friends who wanted a pet. When Sheba was solitary, she eventually stopped laying eggs a year after he was gone. That was 10 yrs ago now and we have been egg-free ever since.

Good luck!