Habitat - Indoor :: Somebody's moody

[Ktulu]

Hello, so my red-eared slider turtle is a female (I am pretty sure) and she is a big girl and is about 3.5 years old. Lately she has been basking more and has become extra extra hyper and is spending her days trying to escape her tank (120 gallon aquarium-plenty big enough for her alone), and basically just swimming around frantically flailing her limbs. So, I am presuming she is wanting to lay eggs. I also found what appears to be an empty egg shell floating around the tank the other day with holes in it and a few small pieces of fleshy material in the water as well so I am guessing she may have laid the egg and then labelled it "Dinner" so to speak. Anyways, I don't want to breed anything, she has no male so the eggs wouldn't be fertile anyways. Do I have to provide her with a nest box? I tried one. I filled a large Rubbermaid bin about 6" full of "plantation soil" (you know the bricks of jungle dirt that you put in a bucket of water for 30 mins. and they expand by absorbing the water to 10x the size of the original dehydrated "brick"). Well I used 2 of those bricks, and once they had expanded into moist soil, I stuck her in the bin and initially she started to dig with her back feet but then she stopped and just started acting like she did in the tank (ie. flailing around and trying to get out of the bin). It's pretty stressful on her grabbing her in the tank and moving her into this bin and so do I have to use it? Can I not just leave her in the tank and maybe she will just lay the rest of her eggs in there like she did the first one (and maybe eat them as well)? Aside from the external bin, I don't know what other nesting plans I could make because she is pretty big and I don't see any way to build a nest inside the tank. The tank is about 18"W and 60"L and 26"H. I have the water as deep as possible (about 22" so she can dive down and such). Then there are 2 Large size ZooMed Turtle Docks on top of the water side by side (2x9" to cover the 18" width of the tank) for her basking spot and when she is on them, the top of her shell sits just below the tank lid so there is no wasted room in the height of the tank. So there isn't really room for a nesting box anywhere. Do I have to use one? Or, can I just leave her to lay them in the water and then fish them out and discard them?

[SpotsMama]

Some people have had luck taking their turtles outside and letting them pick the place. They tend to choose dirt that is softened, like in a flower bed. Would the weather where you are permit this?

[Ktulu]

No. Unfortunately I am in Mississauga, Ontario Canada (just outside of Toronto) so the only garden soil outside here right now is about 2 feet deep and white and cold .

[SpotsMama]

Read through this link. It gives advice on specifics like type of substrate, temperature, time of day, etc. that may be helpful. Good luck - please keep us posted on how it is going:

http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/Nestsites.htm

[TheComputerGremlin]

Some people have had luck with random household things, like beanbags, pillows, towels, that their turtles will "dig" under and lay the eggs. How much time did you give her in the box? She might need a few hours to herself before she decides to lay. It's not recommended to hope that she'll lay the rest in the water and one could end up breaking inside her and causing an infection.

[Ktulu]

Well, yeah she was only in there for about 30mins. each time so it probably wasn't long enough. Should I put a basking light in there for her while she is in there too? What about a lid? Right now I am just putting her in there and putting the lid on over top (of course there are holes drilled into the lid for air) but would it be better to use a wire top and clip a heat lamp onto it? What about light and noise requirements in the nest? Should I keep my cats from snooping around outside the bin? They don't actually do aything other than stare out of curiosity, but she could certainly see their figures outside the transluscent walls of the bin.

[Ktulu]

Well, she is back in the bin. Itried leaving the lid off and cliping on a clamp heat lamp but she just kept trying to escape from the bin so much that I was afraid she might knock it over. So, I have now removed the clamp lamp and put the lid on with the drilled air holes and am just leaving her in there for the evening no matter how much she complains and tries to get out. She really wants out. Is there anything I could do to calm her down in there m,aybe lmake her more likely to lay if she needs to?