General Care Discussion :: Normal Egg Laying Frequency?

[Jeremiah]

My turtle has been kind of restless lately (constantly climbing up and down the basking ramp), and has tried climbing out of her tank a couple of times. She's still eating, but won't beg like she used to; she's also been basking a lot lately. She has also been making odd hind leg motions while swimming. Given this behavior, I assume she's gravid, and I think I felt eggs when I palpated her today.

The thing is, she already laid a clutch of around 11 eggs last spring. Is it normal for RES to have eggs at this frequency?

[Kansasslider]

I'm not sure if they become gravid on a regular basis? If mine ever does I hope to incubate just for the experience. Steve will know way more about this. There are some good threads about this here. You might search the site. I have a male map and they have sex I'm just waiting for the day I will have to figure all this out. I'm studying! From reading your posts its good to have you on board. Welcome!

[Jeremiah]

Thanks, Kansas! A lot of what I've learned actually came from you and Steve to begin with, so feel free to consider the good parts of my posts as yours to begin with.

That being said, I've read a lot of the threads on here about eggs and breeding--I just haven't found one yet that specifically covers what are considered "normal" intervals between clutches. I put her in her nesting box, but to no avail--it was mentioned in some old posts I read that boxes are frequently rejected. Unfortunately, it's way too cold to take her outside, either.

[Kansasslider]

Thank you, for your comments about me. I appreciate it. Unfortunately, I don't know much about the subject. Hopefully Steve or someone can help you out.

[steve]

I don't remember your location or what turtles you have.. so I apologize if I get something mixed up. Anyway, if it's warm and you have a mix of male/female, then eggs can happen at anytime. It's possible they're starting to mature if this is a new problem for you. Some RES can have overactive ovaries and as long as there is no binding/retention, then it should be OK. Being cool right now sucks, have you ever taken her out of the tank and let her roam around? There are some instances where they have laid eggs will walking around the house, under a towel and even inside someone's slipper once.

[Jeremiah]

Thank you for your reply, Steve! I live in Seattle, Washington; weekly temperatures have remained below 40F...

I have a male and female, but they don't live together any more. I didn't think letting them roam the house would work, since digging holes isn't possible in carpet or wood flooring. If binding occurs, I guess I'll just have to pay for X-rays and oxytocin. I think she's pretty far along, as she suddenly got really heavy.

[Jeremiah]

Sorry for the double post, everyone. Just wanted to give a quick update. No luck with the box or free-roaming, but she does tend to stick her head in the water while keeping her body on the basking area, occasionally with hind legs out. She started this yesterday. Still climbing up and down the ramp like crazy, and when I palpated her just now I can feel that at least one egg is moving downward. Hopefully, that's a good sign. Oh, and yes she does get cuttlebone bone.

Sorry for all the words, I just get so stressed out during "egg season"--I'm always so paranoid about ruptures/peritonitis/retention. There's so much gravid-y to this situation!

[Kansasslider]

I would brobably be a nervous wreck.

[steve]

When was the last time they were in the tank together?

As for roaming around, I hope they don't dig a hole in the floor! But females like to look for safe areas, so it might encourage her. They are very instinctive when they are gravid.

Does she act like she wants out of the tank at the same time of day? If so, that's when you want to immediately try the nesting box.

[Jeremiah]

I had them together for a couple of hours due to a leak emergency in his tank, but that was about a month ago.

I tried to "sync" active times with out-of-tank nesting times, and it still doesn't work. She likes to spend most of the morning thrashing around, and tends to bask normally in the afternoon. I was thinking of setting a portion of the room aside with lots of hole/cave areas (maybe bring in a small log to hide under, drape a sheet over a little chair, and other standard DIY measures). Although the eggs do feel a little lower--does their location have anything to do with their level of development?

Thanks again, for all your help and advice!

[steve]

What if you place her into the tank first thing, perhaps just before they wake up? Your idea sounds good, try anything to try to get her to lay them. As for where the eggs location.. I have no idea. Turt size, number and size of eggs might have something to do with it.

[Jeremiah]

She usually wakes up just a little before I do, but she doesn't start "exercising" until later, so I will indeed try the "early bird" approach. Fingers crossed!

[Jeremiah]

Well, who's ready for a weird update?

She was still being stubborn, and as a desperate measure I retrieved her blue kiddie pool from last year (it served as a dry-docking pen one day, and happens to be the place where she first started laying eggs). I put her in with several large pieces of newspaper, and for the first time ever (on land, that is) she's doing the classic "scratching something that can't be reached" motion with her back legs--in a pile of newspaper. I put her in the nesting box right then, but she freaked out again so I let her back in the kiddie pool. Hopefully, I find some eggs later!

[steve]

Argh, any luck today?

[Jeremiah]

Sadly, no...I called around to a couple of vets today, and they advised that I wait 2 more weeks before bringing her in. The eggs seem to have grown, though--I can feel them without having to "search" now, so I hope she's getting a little closer. My friend works for a clothing store, so I recruited him to bring me the biggest shipping box he can find--I figure her current nesting box might be too small for her tastes, and the "laying room" option didn't yield results either. It actually seemed to stress her out more.

Which brings me to another question--if she lays one and eats in underwater, do I have to completely re-start the tank? If so, that's going to be a bit of a pain if she does it more than once...Not that I'm unwilling to do it, but that's going to be a lot of water! Not to mention the chaos that will happen with my water chemistry.