Sharing observations. Five years ago a very old looking female EBT mysteriously showed up in my backyard. I have a small property in suburbs...there are no EBTs that wonder the neighborhood. She was outside the pen where I had my other female EBT, eating food I had taken out the night before but not thrown away. I think a neighbor may have found a couple turtles (she asked my wife if she wanted some turtles they found on the road a couple days previously) and then it escaped or was released. Anyway, I will never know. Her shell is worn smooth, but she has done well. She never laid a single egg in the five years I have had her.

Now I have an EBT raised from egg, who will be 6 this fall and he turned out male. Last year he really matured and I have frequently found him with this old female (ironically I have never found him with the other female). In any case, I was pleasantly surprised that she is now gravid!! Although I know that some literature says turtles reproduce throughout their lives, I have read other accounts of turtles which seemed no longer fertile. I always assumed this turtle was now sterile, but apparently she just had not been with a male.

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• Old female EBT has eggs! - Woodnative, Mon Jun 22 21:19:44 2009
• RE: Old female EBT has eggs! - StephF, Tue Jun 23 07:50:52 2009