General Care Discussion :: Gravid turtle question please help

[Jeremiah]

Well I may have been mistaken but I thought I read that even females kept alone will produce eggs. But if I do decide on a RES she won't be alone cause I have Phil..lol I can't decide yet whether I want two.. But if I do I really want a female, so I would have to wait till Phil is much bigger anyway.. Is it hard to introduce turtles when they are sexually mature?

They will produce eggs, it's just not particularly common. Some turtles might get along okay when introduced that late, but there's often a fair amount of sexual aggression (often from both parties). This leads to the quintessential Craigslist rehoming ad...

Do you intend to breed Phil?

[lizamarie0686]

mine sure knows how to produce them, and even think she has them when she doesn't

[steve]

@ unclejoe - yes, it can happen but not likely. They will be infertile of course.

@ lizamarie0686 - have you felt for them again?

[lizamarie0686]

Yep, no eggs in there. I went back to old posts, 8 eggs, evertime she's laid eggs, and that was around 10 times in 2 years, so Im pretty sure she's empty. it was 8 this time, still no behavior changes, swimming like a mad turtle and digging when walking around the house. no warm weather in site here either. 4 days so far after laying, still full of nesting hormones.

[lizamarie0686]

From 1978 to 2006, oviposition was induced in 13 North American turtle species. A significant adverse effect observed with oxytocin induction was that some successfully induced turtles still displayed nesting behavior over the following days to weeks.


I think I'm part of a study now, with this turtle. whether it goes away or not with out nesting substrate is the question.

[steve]

Cool info, I've never considered it before.

[unclejoe]

.

Do you intend to breed Phil?

At this point, I haven't even decided if I wanna get a second turtle, plus I have no idea if Phil is male/female although I still stick with my first instinct that he is possible male.. Only reason for this is, even after growing some, his tail is still extremely long..lol Gonna be hard to start calling him a her in 3-4 yrs when he finally reaches sexual maturity.. haha

So I have not even considered breeding, cause I am sure I would need a whole bunch more equipment for that..lol Not saying No never, just never even crossed my mind..

And I am finding this thread interesting. I think the oxytocin may be a good choice but as we are finding out, it has to be timed right when injected.. Do you do the injection yourself, or take her to a vet to have it done?

[lizamarie0686]

Yeah it works perfectly just the side effect this time. I guess its not hurting her since she has no eggs in there, but it is driving the household insane.

I do it my self, its really easy.

[unclejoe]

I bet it is..lol I gotta say I wonder what wild turtles do at this time,, if it takes weeks for the eggs to be ready to be laid?? We fed a lot of wild turtles but I don't recall any frantic type behavior, I guess cause they could come and go when they wanted.. I do know that sometimes they would go missing for a couple of weeks or more, then be back... We thought maybe they went to a different pond for different food, but may they left cause of egg laying.. Who knows.. Do you get the hormone from your vet and then inject? I wouldn't even know where to start with how much dosage, where to inject, things like that? NOt that I am anywhere needing it, since Phil is only about 2 inches..lol and might be a boy. But I am a hog for info.. haha

[lizamarie0686]

Yeah right from the vet, Dosage varies I think. where I got the help from I'm not sure if posting all the info on here would be right. some people are really against oxytocin for turtles or something I don't know.

[unclejoe]

We will see what Steve says. But I personally have been part of different forums for different pets, and everyone has an opinion, but I think forums should be a place to learn all sides so each pet owner can make their own educated decision. That is why I like to be part of them to learn different ideas, techniques, from more experienced pet owners.. So I hope its alright to post more info,, If nothing else its something we can ask our own vets about if we have a bit of info.. I have never heard of this, but I have read stories of turtles being impacted and needing surgery, and that surgery looks horrible for the turtle.. So to me, an injection seems less invasive then allowing things to get that bad.. But I do feel it needs to be explored and discussed with everyone's own vet to see if its a wise choice... But either way.. I do appreciate your thread and learning a bit about it. I will file it away for a later date for when I know if I actually have a female turtle or not.. haha

Hubby and I are big into ferrets and you have no idea how being part of ferret forums has helped our ferrets stay healhier and live longer from all the info we learned being members. Vets just don't have the time to be up on all the latest stuff that comes out to keep our pets healthy. So I am glad people shared their stories and procedures so we could take that same info to our vets.. Most vets appreciate well thought out research brought to them.. We haven't had one yet that was all put out by it..

[lizamarie0686]

yes, forums have really helped me, especially since I never really bought this turtle, It was my EX gfs, so I was clueless about them. And honestly this is her SN as well, Im actually a 26 year old male.

[steve]

Yes, this forum is an exchange of ideas, experiences and information. I'll make an effort to correct some things I might view as misinformation with an explanation when it happens. Sometimes members strongly disagree, but a vast majority of interaction is civil.

As for those anti-oxytocin folks, I'm not sure what the reasoning is there. It's been proven to work... maybe they fear overdosage?

[unclejoe]

Or maybe Steve, they are possibly thinking its not being natural or its being invasive.. But if you plan on keeping a pet turtle you have already taken it from its natural environment. So I feel as the human in the situation we need to do what ever is necessary to keep them healthy in an unnatural environment and if oxytocin works and a female turtle can be on her way with no bad side affects it may be something I consider down the road if I end up with a female that gets gravid.. The thought of cutting open the bottom carapace to get at impacted eggs just scares the bejeebees out of me and what kind of discomfort will the turtle face healing from that? For me if I used it, it wouldn't be so much to prevent gravid behaviour as to prevent eggs from getting stuck in there. That is why I am interested in the timing thing, if waiting another couple of weeks and then injecting it, not only gives her time to get rid of some of her hormones before the procedure that she settles quicker after that's a bonus. I guess now I need to research how long the average Gravid period lasts once it starts? Do either of you have any data on that?

That's ok lizamarie, I stole my husbands profile..lol Just change your gender and at least we will know we are talking to a guy.. haha

[steve]

Wouldn't they see that contradiction? Some people just like to argue I guess. I'd agree that surgery is up there with my bigger fears... so very risky with reptiles, especially with general anesthetic. And good luck finding a skilled vet to be able to that to begin with.

re: gravid data - A very rough estimate, I'd say there is about a 1-2 week window, then she might retain them and expel them into the tank later. Some people say they can reabsorb the eggs, but I've never find direct evidence of RES being able to do that.