Hi everyone.
I have a 25 year old female RES who's been laying eggs 2-3 times a year for around a decade now. It's usually like clock work, around early spring twice and once in late summer or just ends up being the spring. Eggs are always bright and shiny/healthy and I bring her out to my neighbours garden where she digs a hole naturally and lays then covers it up. The whole process usually takes around 4 hours and it takes 2-3 times of bringing her outside before she'll commit to a hole.
As anyone who has ever had a female full of eggs will know, she is extremely active and loud within the tank trying to escape when she needs to lay. This is usually a perfect "tell" and has always allowed me to take her out bring her outside and get the business done. I've enjoyed it for years however this year something very strange has begun to happen.
My turtle is waking up every 3 hrs on the dot and just bashing around her aquarium trying to get out. It's been 6 weeks of this non-stop starting at 12am, then 3am, then around 5:30am and then 7:30am. No matter what I've tried nothing is calming her down. I have been bringing her outside and she hasn't even attempted to dig a hole. Generally she walks around digs shallow holes until she is satisfied but this year nothing, no attempts at all, and doesn't seem like she even has any eggs inside her when I feel gentle around. It's really strange and all I can conclude is she has "learned" that our loft has no doors and that she can make such an incredible amount of noise it forces me to attend to her... Sometimes I'm even worried she will break her aquarium glass, she is full sized and very strong.
Has anybody got any idea of what could be causing this restlessness? It started too early to be eggs but now that it's spring she just isn't interested in laying. Thanks for the help!