General Care Discussion :: Eggs! Am I gonna have Babys?

[Dsimms]

Well I know recently I posted a topic asking about my RES mating and I read up on the topic. I was told not to worry till they are about 4-5 inches in length, Pink & Floyd are now 2 and 2 1/2 inches and I can clearly tell male and female now. Well the other morning when I got up for work I found Pink & Floyd doing the mating dance as I call it (face to face with thier arms facing foward and in a way shaking thier nails while swiming backwards). Before I rescued Pink & Floyd form a younger boy they where well overfeed and had some fungus. When I read up on mating I did find one book that noted if overfeed they will mature faster. When I was taking Pink & Floyd out of the tank this past week to soak in thier sulfa dip I noticed my female RES has gotten pretty fat, when she pulls her head in her shell her neck can cover her whole face and she is the most restless one of the two. I tryed feeling but she wont relax for the world but I felt lightly with her not relaxed and it feels a lil hard back their but I cant say thats acurate so really my Question is: Based on what I explained could I possibly expecting eggs? Is it possible? Has anyone else seen eggs at this young?
Thank you all for all the help once again!

[cam722]

What you are describing sounds more like she's over weight than "pregnant". If she can't fully pull her head in and her neck is covering her face, sounds like she needs a diet. How much are you feeding daily? btw, just where are you checking for eggs?

Do you know how long the boy had them before you got them? Just because they are doing the "mating" dance thing does not mean they are mating. It could be a territorial issue for starters, or just playing.

As for the .. is it possible. You'll have to wait for someone with more experience in the egg department than me.

[Dsimms]

The diet I have them on is every other day three turtle sticks in the morning and some veggys in the afternoon and every once in awhile some minows or earth worms still looking for some more varity, pet stores around her only have crap for turtles. I checked for eggs between the carapace and in front of the rear legs. And the boy had them for about a year and a half and when he got them it was told to them that the RES where year old....

[Pizza]

I think that's overfeeding them. Feeding your turtles once a day is plenty, twice a day may be pushing it a little, anymore is overfeeding. Many of the turtle treats such as turtle bites should be offered rarely, maybe once a week or two, because they offer low nutrition (even fattening), just a lot of filler and flavour. Live food should also be offered sparingly, once every 3 weeks and up is appropriate. The instructions on the packaging of many turtle foods often say something like "Feed as much as turtle will consume in 2-3 minutes", and/or "Feed once in morning, once in afternoon", don't do it. They are just trying to con you into using up your turtle food quicker so you can go out and buy more, more money into their pockets.

When giving greens, offer them as often as possible, they give good nutrition, and improve the health of your turtle (as with humans too), stop if they vomit the greens up, or in the case of runny waste/diarrhea. Fruits are treated as treats too, offer them sparingly, especially the ones high in sugar (which is most of them). The usual diet is vegetables and pellets of a good brand (some brands are somewhat unhealthy or offer little nutritional value).

Adults turtles can and should eat only once every other day, I feed mine every 2-3 days (especially since they're all so bulky and fat already). Your turtles should perhaps follow being fed once every other day as well, thjey aren't fully mature, but they sound pretty chubby.

The general rule for feeding is as much as would fit in your turtle's head if it were hollow, excluding the neck. It may seem little, and despite your turtles begging you for more (which is common), they will live healthier in the long run. Also turtles in the wild can store energy and live for a long time without food, they only eat when they catch prey or find some random food, so captive turtles are being fed plenty.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Where around the legs are you poking? If you are poking at the area between a back leg & the tail, that area is always hard. If you are poking at the soft fleshy area on the front side of a back leg, that's how you can determine if she is pregnant. Press gently into the fleshy area; you don't want any potential eggs to break, but if your finger goes all the way in with no resistance, there are no eggs.

I really doubt she is pregnant; 2 inches is a bit small for pregnancy, but I have seen smaller RES's doing the "mating dance" where the male flutters his nails in the female's face. And sometimes I have seen females flutter their tiny nails in the males' faces too.

Also, at 2" they are too small to tell the gender yet. That doesn't develop until later. I have a feeling your turtle is just fat.

[marisa]

At the sizes you say they are, they're still too immature to actually mate and the female (if that's what you have) is too young to lay eggs. What size tank are they in? Males can flutter at males as well as females and females will flutter at either sex as well.l