Habitat - Indoor :: Basking area for female RES

[Kayra33]

I have a female RES and she's 4 years old. I was reading that even if there is no female around that you should still provide an area where she can lay her eggs and that females usually reach their sexual maturity around 5 or 6. I need to start planning b/c she doesn't have any sand on her basking area so she can. And I don't want her to die. They said that she needs to lay her eggs no matter what. Any ideas or comments?

[SpotsMama]

Actually, they start laying eggs when they reach a certain size - probably 5" in length - more than at a certain age. If they are fast growers they can reach sexual maturity sooner than 5 or 6 years.

Have you seen this link? At the bottom of the page is another link to a site that has some pictures of nesting areas and provides a lot of info on the subject. Also, if you brouse around on this site you'll find quite a bit of discussion on the subject and some more pictures.

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

[steve]

Without a male, egg-laying will be considerably less frequent. Spookster is one of the few who have had a RES that laid eggs without a male... it'll be good to ask him the age/size of his turt.

[Kayra33]

Well, Brooks is probably about 7 to 7 1/2 inches from carpace to carpace. I said that she was big!!! She always has been, I got her when she was the size of a 50 cent piece. I've had 3 tanks, a 20 gallon, 55 gallon, and just bought a 125 gallon that she absolutely loves! She looks like she's small in it She doesn't seem like somethings wrong or bothering her, she acts perfectly happy. Thanks for the links but I think that I have seen every RES site out there. I even have books on them but pictures help much more with basking area/nesting areas.