Gravid Musk not laying

Russian Rehab

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ma
hello alll
I need help in knowing when it is time to worry/ go to the vet in regard to my musk female laying eggs. i am concerned about egg retention.

here is the story.

this is my first time with a femail needing to lay. i have only every had a boy before.

i gave her a nesting box and varied diet and UVA?UVB light and everything i hoped she would need to have healthy babies.
in the last two weeks her behavior has changed which makes me think she is getting ready to lay. she has been dinging in the nesting box at night (no eggs yet) she actually fully escaped her tank last Thursday. it took me two hours to find her under the refrigerator. i tryed placing her in a big box of substrate for two hours yesterday and im gonna do it again today because i saw online that that can help trigger laying. she has been eating less and moving less in the last two weeks.

the lethargy worries me. is this part of getting ready to lay or is she showing signs of being egg bound?
i have a great reptile vet but i worry if the stress of a vet visit is worth getting checked out at this point in time?
when is it time to go to the vet? what should i look for or how long do i wait before i should be worried?

also any tips for triggering laying would be great!

Thanks
Nina
 

Pastel Tortie

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I'm guessing this isn't her normal fall/early winter behavior... What size is she? How many males do you have? Are you covering part of the nesting box with a towel or fake plants, something like that? What kind of substrate are you using in the nesting box, and how wet is it?

Sorry for the battery of questions, but the answers could make a difference. :)
 

Markw84

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hello alll
I need help in knowing when it is time to worry/ go to the vet in regard to my musk female laying eggs. i am concerned about egg retention.

here is the story.

this is my first time with a femail needing to lay. i have only every had a boy before.

i gave her a nesting box and varied diet and UVA?UVB light and everything i hoped she would need to have healthy babies.
in the last two weeks her behavior has changed which makes me think she is getting ready to lay. she has been dinging in the nesting box at night (no eggs yet) she actually fully escaped her tank last Thursday. it took me two hours to find her under the refrigerator. i tryed placing her in a big box of substrate for two hours yesterday and im gonna do it again today because i saw online that that can help trigger laying. she has been eating less and moving less in the last two weeks.

the lethargy worries me. is this part of getting ready to lay or is she showing signs of being egg bound?
i have a great reptile vet but i worry if the stress of a vet visit is worth getting checked out at this point in time?
when is it time to go to the vet? what should i look for or how long do i wait before i should be worried?

also any tips for triggering laying would be great!

Thanks
Nina
I would think she is instead showing signs of preparing to brumate (hibernate) All you mention are classic indications of a turtle feeling the urges to brumate as they days shorten. Trying to find a better spot to dig in for the winter is very similar to trying to find a spot to lay eggs. It is the time of year to brumate, not lay eggs. Most people do not have bright enough lights, nor the proper light color, to overcome the added values by ambient light in the room in which the tank is kept. Light from windows do effect the light in a room, and with the much shorter days, and extreme loss of UV in the ambient light, the turtle knows its time! Also the temperatures in a room are almost always different summer vs. now as the days have shortened.

This also is not the time of year you would normally see any turtle wanting to lay eggs. Egg laying is normally May - July.
 

Russian Rehab

Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2018
Messages
51
Location (City and/or State)
ma
I'm guessing this isn't her normal fall/early winter behavior... What size is she? How many males do you have? Are you covering part of the nesting box with a towel or fake plants, something like that? What kind of substrate are you using in the nesting box, and how wet is it?

Sorry for the battery of questions, but the answers could make a difference. :)

hello !
no thank you for helping! i dont mind the questions.
i adopted Stella luna about 5 months ago from a rescue . she is full grown 4.5-5 inch ish. they had no idea of her age but she is larger than my male musk i have had for 5 years o i think sexual maturity has definatly been reached. i only have 1 male with her in a 40 gallon breeder tank with lots of hides and plants.
i have not seen any agression between the two since they were introduced althought i have seen the male try to mount her. he is never perticulalry insistant about it and he wont chase her. he slowly aproches from the back and crawls as far on top as she will alllow. i think he may be afrade of her which is good. i think he dosnt bother her too much.

The nesting box is a 10 gallon tank i have placed sideways on top of the tank . The substrate is a mix of coco core and sand which i spray with water to keep moist regulalrly. there is also a uvauvb light obove the box during the day. she tends to scratch around at night time though. i also put some rocks and plants in their to provide some cover. i read that musk turtles tend to lay under debree on the sides of ponds so i even made a slope in the dirt so it would feel llike the edge of a pond.
the actuall wetness of the box variers but i have been shooting for more moist substrate in the last few days because i thought maybe she didnt like i because it was too dry.
 

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