Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This guy pulled it off eventually but she gave him trouble for a little while!

-Yasser

SPITFIRE REPTILES

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Is she gravid yet? Turtles sure are different fron snakes when it comes to gestation.

Well I had to redo some of their filtration system and make some noise for a few days in their room so I think I bugged them enough to make them not want to breed anymore becasue I haven't seen them do it in quite some time now. But one female in each pond (one has two girls, the other has three) is basking for the entire day on their "sandy beaches". Then each evening, they slip back into the water for the night. Both regularly dig small nest "divets" but no real substantial earth moving really.
I know about as much as you probably do (maybe even less) about breeding them so I guess I will feel my way along. It turns out Rico Walder of Signal Herp once bred this species back in the 90s so I have been bugging him to fill in the blanks on what I have gathered on this species.

-Yasser
Spitfire Reptiles

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You might want to consider keeping the females (&males) separately: these animals can be extremely fierce and territorial (also between females), and what you describe as basking, might actually be a behavior that appears typical when these animals fight: the loser will get out of the water to avoid losing her toes. These animals rarely if ever leave the water to bask, much of their skin is so thin that they would dry out quickly. My animals do sit at the water surface more when gravid, with their faces out of the water, to absorb warmth from the waters upper layers.
Also, the stress of having multiple females together might make them produce less eggs.