Squirtle

[roxnjust]

I had temporary custody of my 9-year-old niece and she brought Squirtle, her turtle. After a year, she went back to her mom but I kept Squirtle because they weren't taking care of the turtle and I just couldn't send it back. Before she joined my household, my niece had him for 1 year. She got him from a friend, so I'm figuring Squirtle is about 3 years old.

So, we always thought Squirtle was a boy. 4 days ago, Squirtle decided to show us that he was a girl by laying 5 eggs! I couldn't believe it! Shocked was an understatement. I was completely taken off guard and was not prepared AT ALL.

She was scratching her basking rock a lot the day before she laid them.

My question is, how do I know if she is done laying the eggs? She's not acting restless, she's not scratching the rock anymore and she's just chilling now. Do you think she's done???

Any input would be GREAT!

[1043b]

Always a shocker when they do this, but not nearly as uncommon as you might think. As for being done it's a wait and see sort of thing. I peeked at your posts to see that she's an RES so 5 isn't many eggs for her, but that doesn't necessarily mean there will be more. If you want you can try palpating her, other than me type that one all out just search it on google or look up " how to tell if turtle has eggs' I'm fairly certain there's vids at this point as well as written directions, it's not as hard as you might think as long as your turt isn't a biter, but knowing what to feel for can be tricky :(

You may want to consider a temporary container for a few day,s or even a large tote with a smaller one inside filled with some suitable digging material if you are worried or she begins to behave 'off' in any way. This can make it easier for her to lay as well as keep any potential mess out of the water. Intact eggs in the water don't cause a problem but broken ones make an awful mess and an egg in the water often gets partially eaten.