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Hi and thanks for reading this.
My RES hasn't laid eggs for nearly a year; she's got a 2'x3' basking area under a heat and UV lamp. I put a (clean, new) cat litter tray full of sand in there but although she initially got into it and flapped the sand out over the side with her hind legs, for weeks it's sat unused. I took her to an exotics vet who took X-rays and said she's getting egg bound so gave her a jab of oxytocin to try to promote egg laying. He also said that I should give her a selection of materials to lay eggs in. So, if exposed sand on the basking area is out, what do you recommend?

I have only had a RES lay eggs once. I used some potting soil without perlite in one container and sand in another. She was a first time mother and actually laid some in each container. She laid about 6 eggs in each, and I hatched 10 of them. Wonder what ever happened to all of those little baby turtles?

Update:
I got my beastie back from the vet today (chipping-norton veterinary hospital, which has three vets that deal with exotics and didn't charge as much as I'd feared). After the oxytocin jab, she laid 3 rather malformed eggs which were heavily calcified. While there,she was sedated to get a blood sample and is now back in her tank, but to prevent drowning, with only 1" of water until she's completely awake. The x-rays (which I'll post when I get them off the vet) show that all the eggs are out, but for next time, how deep a container did you use to receive the eggs and how warm/damp was the soil/sand?

Hi Ratz. The hole should be as deep as your turtle is long. It's possible that your turtle might stop digging if she thinks there might be an obstruction down there.