Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[Cooter]

At my high school, we keep a 17 year old red eared slider in the class room for our senior oceanography class to learn more about the behevior and life of organisms. She is a happy little turtle, very well cared for, but over the winter break, and again the other morning she, to our surprise, layed eggs! She was kep in a pond, presumably with other turtles, over the summer, and may have had a chance to fertilize them there, but as I do not know anything about this behivior, I was wondering how can i tell if the eggs are fertile or not, and what should i do if they are? is it possible for turtles to lay eggs like chickens, unfertile? should we be worried? or should we be doing our best to make the little eggs at home if it happens again?
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[Peter Parrot]

Female turtles can and do lay infertile eggs , even without contact with a male. Hold a bright light behind the egg (don`t turn it at all, it needs to stay in the position it was laid) and if you see veins running through the egg it`s fertile. A blank egg means just that, blank.
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YSBRYDOLI POBL, GWELLA LLEOEDD
INSPIRING PEOPLE, IMPROVING PLACES
www.btcv.org
Visit our website - Gwelwch ein Gwefan
www.btcvcymru.org
Llinell Gymorth / Helpline: 08702 40 48 41

[Cooter]

ok, so our turtle is kept in a aquarium with a few large rocks as her way to get out of the water and up towards her light. The times that she has laid eggs, due to te lack of dirt, she has laid them in the water, and proceeded to eat as many as she could. Is this because her favorite food is grapes? or should we let her reabsorb the nutrients after the strains of laying eggs? and will the eggs be ok if the flot in the wter untill we are able to take them out and get them warm, or is it already too late?
thanks
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[Peter Parrot]

No sorry. Might as well scramble them if they are bobbing about in the water.

She needs ideally a warm and sandy area ON DRY LAND to lay her eggs.
_________________
YSBRYDOLI POBL, GWELLA LLEOEDD
INSPIRING PEOPLE, IMPROVING PLACES
www.btcv.org
Visit our website - Gwelwch ein Gwefan
www.btcvcymru.org
Llinell Gymorth / Helpline: 08702 40 48 41

[Cooter]

ok, so in the future, are there any teltale signs that she will aly more eggs? or, after alying one batch of eight and another of two, can we assume that she is done for the year?
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