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Hey they, just found this site and am somewhat new to turtles as well. Back in feburary me and my girlfriend (finance/wife with no ring or paperwork) bought a house together and her turtles came too since she couldnt find a reserve to take them. At the time I was all for them to find a new home. Six months later I love the turds. Shes had them one of them since she was 9 (shes now 24/im 23) The male, Midnight is 16 and the female, daylight is 12. She was never really able to get the proper set up for them while she lived at home and after them came here i felt bad for them so this is where my obsession started.

Once it got warm (we are in PA) I bought a 125 gallon pond and put it in the ground in the back yard. I ran electrical for any pumps/cleaning needs to it. Put some stone, planted plants, fenced it and they love it. Now as its starting to be time for them to come in I will be building a indoor pond basically in the middle of our house. It will either be amazing or a disaster with water everywhere but I guess there is only one way to find out. Wish me luck!

I guess I do have one question since it just happened tonight. After cleaning the pond and refilling it Midnight decided to climb out of the water and started digging a whole in some of the plants. Nicole (my better half) said it maybe Daylight has eggs and he started to find a place for them. Does this happen? Does the male dig holes for eggs? Shes only had eggs once or twice before because like I said she was never able to give them the proper environment living at home. If indeed they are eggs and they did actually hatch what in the world do you do with numerous turtles since in PA maybe else where too it is illegal to breed RES and sell them. Thanks for the help and looking forward to meet some more RES lovers!

Hi, welcome to the site.

The male RES has no involvement in the nesting process. If anything, he might get in the way. If you've had them both for a long time together and eggs only once, could both be females? Females do not need a male to become gravid.

Good for you for giving them a pond set up. Wish I had a yard, i'd totally do the same.

I heard when winter comes around the turtles hibernate by digging themselves in the muddy floor of the lake in the wild. Maybe his instincts started kicking up when you got them in a more natural habitat.