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I've only had my red-eared slider a few weeks. She's 3 1/2 -years-old and laid about 4 eggs today. She's now very lethargic. I imagine pushing the eggs out was exhausting, but I am worried. How long will it take for her to recover and be herself again? At what point should I take her to a vet?

She did start to eat again, after having not eaten much for a few days.

Was she given a proper nesting area? If not, it's possible she's still holding some eggs inside, which could be bad. If you gave her a good nesting area, I would imagine she'd be better in a couple hours. Please reply about the nesting area and give as many other details as you can, like tank size, water temp, basking temp, filtration, etc.

I agree with everything ComputerGremlin said: can you give us more details?

I took her to the vet, who thought she was o.k., but that I should watch her. She has slowly become more alert and part of the family, and she's started basking again. She's eating, but not a lot. She did lay the eggs in the water, I didn't pull together a nesting area quickly enough.

It is best for them to lay the eggs outside of the water.

I would keep a box of soil handy just in case she needs it soon. Also, get some kind of a small lamp you can put over the soil to warm it a bit, and moisten the soil before she goes to use it. Turtles prefer a lightly moist/warm soil to lay eggs in.

Having said all that, you may have to leave her out of the tank for up to 8 hours in order for her to lay the eggs next time. This is ok to do, as long as she can't get out of the area. So start thinking about where in the house you can let her do this. Bathrooms make a good area because they often have linoleum or tile floor that is easy to clean up & you can close the door so she won't be bothered.

Let us know how things go! Hopefully she is done laying eggs for now.

Aside from a balanced, varied diet, I'd make sure she has enough calcium in her diet, since she's used up more than usual during egg laying.