Urgent Care :: Red eared slider eggs!!!- New to the forum

[Zelda & Gamara]

Hi! New to the forum. We have 2 red eared sliders, have had them 2 years in April. Zelda; the female, is 8-10 inches shell legnth. Gamara; the male, is probably about 6 inches shell legnth. They live in a 120 gallon tank with driftwood, rock, a slate basking area & a handfull of goldfish (the ones they haven't caught yet). Zelda has apparently laid eggs! We have suspected hanky-panky in the tanky for a while, Gamara has been trying very hard to impress Zelda with his water fanning dance for quite a while now. One has hatched, we found the empty shell on the bottom of the tank. There is a small pile of eggs underwater under a large piece of drift wood. We haven't checked their status yet, decided to wait until the 4 year old was in bed! I don't see any babies swimming around. Are they supposed to be born in the water? I guess I thought they would be born on land. Will the male eat the babies? Or might there be a little turtle swimming around? Any help would be appreciated, have no idea what to do. I don't want to breed turtles, but could always take the babies in the the LPS to take care of them.
Thanks!

[sonyj]

There's several good posts already on the forum concerning eggs if you want to search for more info.

But quickly, anytime you have a mature female RES there needs to be a separate nesting area setup that she can access when she needs to. Eggs should not be layed in the water and this will probably make them no good. Whether she and her "friend" did have any hanky-panky going, eventually she would have layed eggs anyway, (just like chickens even when there's not a rooster around).

Here's a site telling about the nesting area she urgently needs. http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/Nestsites.htm
Retained eggs are very dangerous for her health and she could still be retaining eggs knowing she shouldn't lay them in water knowing this isn't natural. (even if she's previously layed in the water)

If you search for "eggs" you should pull up several more posts that will be helpful.

[Zelda & Gamara]

Thank you, will start by reading this article. In the mean time, we were going to clean the tank tonight. Should we pull the eggs in the water out?

[steve]

The eggs are not likely viable and should be taken out and discarded. Turtle eggs do not hatch in water and was probably broken or eaten.

Here is some additional basic information: http://www.redearslider.com/index_basic_care_3.html

[Zelda & Gamara]

Can I set up a nesting area in the tank they are currently in? It is 5 feet long & 25 inches wide, 120 gallons. Any instructions on a quick set up that I can do tonight/ tomorrow in case she is retaining eggs. I don't want to loose her. How do I know if the eggs are in fact viable? If I am setting up a nesting area should I try to move them in it, or just get rid of them?

[steve]

How many eggs did she lay? Eggs laid in water become deprived of oxygen within a couple of hours or sooner.

It's not advisable to create a nesting area within your tank. How about an adjacent container for a nest?

[Zelda & Gamara]

There were 6 eggs total. One was already open, 2 others cracked. We disposed of all 6. Had been in there more than several hours, probably more like several days. I donated my lovely new 1 1/2' x 2' tupperware container filled with new white play sand for tonight. We set it up were we had their basking area, so it is more than large enough from them to still bask on. I would like any info anyone can send me, or links to pics for a more natural set up. Unfortunately, when I bought my house I did not have RES, & did not think about where I might put a pond inside the house....so I don't think that's an option. I hope that I can do a set up that is both healthy for the RES & at least somewhat more natural looking than an enormous tupperware container. But we thought that if she might dig & lay in it, we might at least prevent serious illness or death. Any thoughts on the matter are appreciated.
Thanks!

[missibsu]

There are pictures in the photo gallery of different set ups that people have. I'm not sure of the frequency that females lay eggs, so I don't know if this is an immediate concern or not. I know that some people watch for signs of needing out of the tank to lay eggs and then just take them outside to dig. I personally think that access to a nesting area from the tank is easier to deal with than watching for those elusive signs. That's just me though. Good luck on your more permanent nesting area. You'll have to show us some pics when you have it done!

[TNTurtles]

http://redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3855&highlight=laying+eggs

http://redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3930&highlight=laying+eggs

http://redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3709&highlight=laying+eggs

these may help you out, the last link is actually the first one posted

[Spookster]

watching for those elusive signs.

The signs are far from being elusive. lol The turtle will act like she has gone completely nuts.

[Zelda & Gamara]

Thanks for the links to pics, I'll check them out. Zelda has been crazy since we have had her. She is always digging, knocking stuff over, etc. & she is huge to boot, so she can really mess things up! She has destroyed countless heaters, etc. We will see how she does. The animals are definately driving me crazy! I see Missibsu has quite a few pets as well! We have the two RES in the 120, a 55 gal African Cichlid tank, 10 gal w/ clowns & anenomes, 70 gal w/ 2 Green Spotted Puffers, 12 gal fresh water & a 55 gal salt reef & 3 cats! Yikes!!!! Thanks for all the help. We'll keep you posted.

[missibsu]

watching for those elusive signs.

The signs are far from being elusive. lol The turtle will act like she has gone completely nuts.

My female is not yet mature and there are times when she goes completely bonkers. So, that's why to me it seems elusive, lol. She hasn't knocked the heater or dock off, but she has flipped the car on the bottom of the tank. I get what you are saying though...can't wait for those days...ha ha ha!

edit...yeah, I have a few pets. That doesn't count the mouse that I had for 8 years, and hedgehog that I had for 10+. Both of those passed away while I was in college. We also lost one of our cats this year. There is nothing like seeing your cat on life support. She'd been given a blood transfusion, and was on the road to recovery. Third time for CPR wasn't the charm, she didn't pull back out.

[Zelda & Gamara]

Sorry for your loss. I just lost my cat of 15 years to cancer a few months ago. I did the fluids & food paste so I know its not fun. We actually had 6 cats a few years ago, but have lost 3 in the last few years...but my cats for the most part are old fogies! Our oldest one now is 16 years...so the heartbreak is unfortunately far from over. But love them while you can right! I love the fact that these forums are set up for morons like us who get these pets & find out after the fact they lay eggs no matter what! No dogs yest thank goodness! But my son's about to turn four so you know that question will come around soon enough! Well, my husband said it looked like Zelda had moved a bit of sand, but no real signs of digging per say. However, she definately likes her new sand box, she hasn't moved from it all day. I have found some good info on the links sent to me about feeding though, to improve their diet. They have been basically eating shrimp. Maybe thats why Zelda is enormous!
Thanks to all.

[missibsu]

Thanks! Sorry about your loss too! I was so emotional when the cat died, I can't imagine how I will be when it's my parents or grandparents. My grandparents are both in their 80's and still hanging in there!

I posted about the shrimp on your other thread.

In reference to the dogs...people dump them here. We're nice enough to at least provide them with food. Some of them we can't get close to though. There is a stream though the property, so other than being wild, they are taken care of. There is a population of coyotes making a come back in this area and we have seen a couple. Now there is speculation that some of these wild dogs are interbred with the coyotes. Kinda scary to think about. At least these dogs aren't mean.

Good luck with the nesting area, and keep us posted!