Hello all,
I have a red eared slider who's just short of 22 years old.
Mid last week, I noticed she started getting far more restless than normal. I house her in a 50 gallon, however I feed her separately in a smaller aquarium (a 5 gallon I believe) to keep her primary living space cleaner. Typically when done feeding her, I let her sit in her feeding aquarium for about an hour to rest and do her business if needed, but mid last week, she started splashing so aggressively that she was tossing a lot of water up onto my floor.
That in itself was a bit odd, but starting this past weekend her behaviour changed even more. Directly after eating, she began using her hind legs to scratch or pinch her tale. She'd then raise her hind legs, they'd be shaking, and she'd repeat the process for about 10 to 20 minutes total, after which she'd simply rest and more or less go back to normal.
I've watched her scratch herself when itchy far too many times, and this kind of scratching/behaviour is something I've never seen before.
She did this for three or four days in a row, but only ever after eating in her feeding aquarium, never in her 50 gal. I decided to start researching online and I've come to the possibility that she might be trying to dig and that she may have unfertalized eggs.
I called my vet and they asked me to try and set up a little nesting area for her, so since she's only behaved this way in her feeding aquarium I've used sand to try and create a digging area for here there. Two nights ago after eating, as expected, she started doing her possible digging for about 10 to 15 minutes, but once done she literally launched herself forward as if to try and get away.
There were no eggs left behind or buried and she immediately returned to her normal behaviour.
Last night was the first night she did not do any digging at all, sand or no sand, and after eating she went into her usual let-me-out splashing mannerisms, completely normal behaviour for her.
I'm going to try again tonight, but I just wanted to post here to see if you all think my assessment of possible eggs is correct. If so, and she doesn't try to dig/lay anything again and seems happy, healthy, hungry, and fine, should I worry at all? My concern is if she's egg bound, but thus far her health seems completely fine.
As mentioned above, after the first day of using sand, when done "digging" she tried to launch herself away, so could that have signified that she was done, and could she simply have been digging out of instinct and not actually have eggs?
Thank you!
