Urgent Care :: RES egg laying

[resx2]

Hi all

I have two red-eared sliders, both 18 yrs old now (I've had them from babies) They live in a aquarium tank with atba. On Friday (its now Monday) I found one of my girls laying on the bottom of the tank looking far from well. I took her out to find cold, floppy limbs and barely breathing. I got her warm and breathing again and then took her to my exotic vet - he diagnosed her being egg bound and injected her with calcium as a first line of treatment. I have since moved her into a large preformed pond with 5" of soil and a small area of water as per vets advice but still no eggs. How long should I wait and see if she lays before going back to vets and trying oxytocin?

Although I don't have a nesting area in the tank now, I have tried every conceivable variation of soils, sands etc all at various depths to encourage egg laying over the years but though they will dig they never lay and either lay them on the basking platform or in the water. Trouble is the other female is restless in the water now so I think she is carrying too

Any tips and advice would be greatly received

[steve]

Why didn't he try the oxytocin first? Is this pond outside? Have you tried outside? Is the other one also restless or stopped acting that way?

[resx2]

Hi, thanks for the reply. Don't know why the vet didn't try oxytocin first but since I posted she's been in the vets overnight, had 3 injections & passed 9 eggs. She's back home now & I still have her in shallow water in the pond - which is located indoors. I am just keeping her in there until I'm happy she's fully recovered.

My main worry is, when I found her I'm convinced she was drowning. She was breathing by gasping air with long pauses in between. When i got her out the tank water drained from her mouth. Also her limbs were very cold & felt almost puffy & soft. As I warmed her her breathing became normal and her legs all feel normal again. Do you think how I found her she was drowning?

[steve]

It's not unusual to have water in the mouth. I don't know if she were drowning... maybe she's just fatigued?

[outdoork9lady]

Hello, first timer here. I have a female yellow slider and a male red slider. Both are now outdoors in a man made pond with some land around them to get out and do their thing. The female is now 5 years old and for the first time, she is nesting. I saw her very restless and finally she is digging in my hard hard hard dirt. I'm in California where the weather has been quite warm and at night it will dip to 56 degrees.

I saw her digging in the evening when I went out there and I was both surprised and kinda stoked because it's the wildlife in my backyard. I understood what was happening and thought the dirt may be too hard there, why didn't she pick one of the areas that I had built up with good soft dirt on top of the hard dirt??? I was very worried when I went out there this morning, and it appeared she had either tried to dig thru the night, or rested there and was beginning again this morning. The hole didn't appear much bigger than when I saw it last evening.

I'm at work now and want to head home and see if she is still at it! Will she rest, go into the pond for cool off, will she expire from exertion and the heat that comes on strong during the day (80-100 degrees)? What should I do in the meanwhile? I have it fenced off from the dogs, I'm surprised she chose the area where they can nose her thru the fence when there is so much real estate further away from them.

First time turtle mom. Inherited them from first my son (female) and a friend who couldn't keep it (male). Worried. BTW what are clutches that i read somewhere here before registering and then losing the thread I was reading from.

[steve]

Clutches are just the group of eggs she lays at that time. She could have several throughout the summer. The first clutch will be hard. I am surprised that she would still be at it. Was she still digging or just staying by the hole?

[outdoork9lady]

Well, I have no idea but I went out at about 6am, it was quite cool so I was concerned as she appeared to be just laying there. I figured she had tired herself out. I dug that hole for the pond, trust me, it was no picnic. I either woke her or she was at it all night. I think I woke her and she got back to work. I have no idea of when she finally called it quits, either because it was good enough or she thought to heck with it! LOL However I got home from work around 2:30 and it was flat hard filled in. No sign of her. She is probably out cold in the pond.

So tell me, how long do eggs incubate for and if there is a thread/forum to go to, to learn about it, I'll head over.

A clutch, the first one, does this mean she has more eggs in her for the male to fertilize and that she will be laying them all summer as they produce and get fertilized? For the first time (as far as I know) what is the average amount of eggs and chances of survival? I'm both excited and concerned. Excited that nature happened in my backyard, concerned by how many may share this small pond (approx 100 gallons).

[steve]

If she has filled it in, then she was probably successful. The first clutch might have smaller, unhealthy eggs. If she's also not fully mature, then these eggs won't be her best or viable. Our usual recommendation is to dig them up and discard them. As long as they are together, there will probably be a lot of mating, to the point that she will be constantly harassed. Male RES normally have to be separated anyway.

I don't have much info on incubation, though there are scattered experiences of it throughout the forum. You might want to think of some wiring or milk crate to create a fence around that area.

[outdoork9lady]

I have nowhere else for the male to go. I will go ahead and dig up the eggs. What does one usually do with turtle eggs?

[steve]

Just put them in the garbage or let them dry out... they won't hatch.

[outdoork9lady]

Thank you. This has been weighing on me.

[steve]

I felt the same way... I would love a hatchling or two from my female RES. But I've already had to separate her from my male. Having separate setups is quite demanding.