Urgent Care :: First time with gravid female

[Roxy_Turtle]

How big is your turtle? 6 or 7 inch
How long have you had it? We have had it for 7 months but I believe my cousin had it for about 10

What is the water temperature? 77.5
Did you use a thermometer? Yes
Are you using a water heater? Yes
How much water is in there? 40 gallon long tank half full
Are you using a water conditioner? yes
Are you using any filtration? Yes

What is the basking temperature?
Is there a basking light? Yes
Is there a basking platform that is easy to climb on? Yes
What kind is it or what is it made out of?
Is there a UVB light? Yes

I think my turtle is gravid, and she has been this way for a few weeks. She is still eating and is very frantic when in her tank. I have just made a nesting area out of a rubbermaid bin and top soil and multi purpose sand in a 50/50 mixture. The mixture is 10 inches deep. She has been in the nesting area for 40 mins and she does not seem to be liking it at all. she is attempting to get out and is trying to climb up the wall. I have also put her heat lamp above the tank.

Any advice would be FANTASTIC! thank you!

[Roxy_Turtle]

She is also acting very mean, she has never hissed before and as I just passed by she full out hissed at me...HELP

[steve]

Have you felt for eggs? Is she kept with a male now or before?

[Roxy_Turtle]

I have not felt for eggs, I'm a little afraid I will break them if I do. She has never been kept with a male.

[steve]

Is she frantic when only you are around? Does it only happen at a certain time in the day? Does she stop if you feed her?

[Roxy_Turtle]

Her tank is in the family room so there is usually always someone in the room and at that point she is frantic. But if we are out of the room sometimes you can hear her moving around and swimming. It tends to be intense in the early hours (5am-7am) but at night she calms down. For example it's 9:50pm and she is very low key now and I noticed she is laying in an odd position in the water. Her legs are laid out behind her (almost like upward facing dog yoga pose) I don't think it stops when we feed her, she is pretty active at that point.

[steve]

Do you normally feed her in the morning? Does she follow you around when she's thrashing?

[Roxy_Turtle]

Yes she is fed in the morning but not that early, she usually gets fed around 10am. And yes, she does follow us when she's thrashing. Is that good or bad? She has kinda stopped basking in the past 24 hours. Last night I think she slept in the water which I have never seen her do before and she didn't lay out today that I know of. I did have her out of the tank again for a while in the nest area. I've changed it to a kiddie pool with the dirt mixture and she just walked around the whole time.

[Diamondbacks4Life]

Have you tried letting her walk around outside? She may lay a nest there. Obviously keep your distance and keep and eye on her. A lot of people have had success with that but could not get them to nest in boxes.

[Roxy_Turtle]

I'll try that today. Is it possible that she is just obese? She used to be overfed..a lot. We didn't realize we were feeding her incorrectly. What are signs of obesity?

[Diamondbacks4Life]

Just looks like puffy skin coming out of the turtles shell area. Especially when turtle tries to pull head in. Obesity wouldn't cause any other signs. Specially going calm to frantic always and acting mean all of a sudden. All points to eggs.

[steve]

If she's following you around, she might just be begging.