I don't know what to do! My spiny soft shell (about 9 yrs old) has been going crazy swimming in her 70 gal aquarium for the past couple of days and lo and behold today I looked in the tank and there are at least 4 eggs! They are in the water under her rock formation. one looks broken or misformed....she has no mate, therefore they will not hatch...right? so what do I do with the eggs? she stays in the aquarium full time, but sometimes tries to climb out, but lately was really trying to get out....was it because she wanted to go lay the eggs on "dry land". PLEASE HELP!!! I haven't been able to find any info on unfertilized eggs....all this time I thought "she" was a "he", because she never laid eggs before.......any info is more than helpful! thanks!
Reptile & Amphibian Forums
Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.
my turtle just laid eggs!
Replies (2)
I would say yes on why she was trying to get out. I would set her up so with some dry land so she can maybe drop the rest of her eggs, which should indeed as you speculated be infertile. I would put eggs in a jar in rubbing alcohol to preserve them ( do not know if this will work, I did it with some emperor scorpions of mine that died and 7 years later they look preserved still )
-----
Thanks,
Frank Roberts
Roberts' Realm Of Reptile Research
I second the advice to provide a land section, possibly by filling an appropriately-sized tub with dirt or sand and placing a rock or other type of "ramp" adjacent to the land area. A basking area alone is not sufficient for a female. I made the mistake of housing my female spiny in a large aquarium without a nesting area since I had acquired her before she reached maturity and never exposed her to a male during her 14 years in my care. She apparently developed eggs anyway and died after a retained egg ruptured and caused an infection. Your turtle may just drop all of her eggs in the water without complications, but I will not take the risk now that I know about it. One trick I learned from the Spotted Turtle forum was to place a thin (1/2" to 1"
layer of sand on top of the top soil so that I would be able to tell when the turtle had dug a nest hole.
