General Care Discussion :: My turtle seems like she is getting ready for eggs, advice?

[ploskinj]

Hi, our turtle has been acting odd for a while now. It's a little like what is described in the health section under egg laying.

Here is what we have done so far to help.

1.) At first we set up a box with 50/50 organic peat moss and sand. My husband uses this mix for his tarantulas and geckos. We would place her in the box with her basking lamp for a few hours at a time. She seemed contented but did not try to lay eggs or dig a nest.

2.) We tried to set it up so that she can access her nesting box whenever she wants. We've tried a few different heating elements such as a lamp and a ceramic to keep the nesting box warm. She never, ever goes inside. If we place her inside she will return to the water as soon as her feet touch the earth.

Recently I noticed two lumps behind her legs. I touched them very softly and they seemed pretty firm.

So, I have a few questions.

How long should we wait to see if she lays eggs before taking her to a vet to check for egg binding? What symptoms should we look for that would mean an urgent trip is necessary? What else can we do to make her cage fit for her to lay eggs and to make the process more comfortable on her?

Thanks!

[ploskinj]

For reference, here is a picture of our current set up. We have tried a ceramic heater and a basking light to heat the nesting box

[grey goose]

When in doubt, take her to the vet. I have two females myself (too young for eggs yet) and I know they can be very picky about where to lay the eggs. Plus turts are very cautious around anything new, so have patience and keep trying to get her interested in going into the dirt.
Someone with more experience with this will come along shortly and give you some tips.
did you check here?
http://www.redearslider.com/reproduction.html

[marisa]

How big/old is your turtle? I see the nesting box in the pic, but the path/bridges over to the nesting box don't look like they're made for a very large turtle (unless it's the angle of the pic). You don't check for eggs behind the legs, you gently check for eggs in front of the hind legs toward the stomach. It would feel lumpy like grapes if there where eggs that needed to be expelled. What other behavior makes you think your turtle is gravid?

[ploskinj]

Our turtle is about six inches or so. She can get over the bridges, but so far she has only gone from the nesting box back into the water and not the other way around, ha ha ha.

Thank you for the advice about how to check for eggs, I was definitely doing it wrong. I haven't been able to check using your method yet because of a lack of turtle cooperation. Can you give me any tips about that?

I read the section on egg laying before we decided to build the nesting box. It mentions that the turtle will become restless and start scratching around the tank a lot. This started happening a while ago. Usually she is pretty sanguine but she started behaving just that way, restless is a perfect word to describe it and she has been basking more than usual as well.

Thanks!

[camee1991]

Not to hi-jack this thread, but Ploskinji: I was just told on here the same thing a couple weeks ago. I thought my girl was gravid also, and was checking behind her legs...which is her "skeleton", for lack of right word...but checking in the front is the next thing which I was told to do.
And with a larger RES it is hard and sometimes painful "for you" lol, to check in front of hind legs, so someone recommended that I let Tobi walk on the floor and come up behind them and touch that area while the legs are out.

May take a few times and if you feel anything like balls, grapes, or the sort...probably preggers...if you feel "indenting fat"..ummm not so much~!

My girl was kicking her feet and acting odd, but her feeding habits were normal and so was everything else pretty much and she ended up NOT being preggers (gravid) YEAH!

Hope that helps!!

Camee

[steve]

Has her appetite changed? Is she doing a lot of kicking motions, digging motions with her hind feet? When she is restless, does she respond to you?

[ploskinj]

well, changed our setup to back to original (lower water, without the dirt, the white ramp and bridge) and she settled down. We waited for two days for her to like the new setup but she was very restless and kept trying to escape all night even the lights are off and i cant take it anymore. Now she seems happy, always basking and swimming... she's not doing kicking and digging motions anymore.

...and no, her appetite did not change even when she was under that stress.

now im thinking that maybe she is not in the right age to have eggs coz 8 months ago when we found her, she's barely 6"x4", now she's 7"x5"... i fed her 5 goldfish (i didnt know it was bad before) a day, maybe her growth is abnormal coz of too much protein...

[camee1991]

Sounds like she is doing GOOD! YEAH! And probably NOT gravid.

Glad she has calmed down!!!

Camee

[ploskinj]

yeah.... piece of mind

[steve]

I knew my RES was gravid but she wouldn't nest. A couple of months later, with no symptoms, there was an egg in the water...

[camee1991]

I wish it could always be so simple! Poor girl.... Glad she "let it out" so to speak!