The RES Rescue laid an egg!

[Megan]

The larger (and obviously female) rescue we have in our pond has laid an egg! The rescuer did tell me that she probably needed to lay them. But I know nothing about turtle eggs! Do turtles lay un-fertilized eggs on a regular basis? Do I need to do anything to help? This egg I found was cracked open with a loose yellow "yolk" inside. Please help

 

[Itort]

I assume it was laid on top of ground ? It sounds assume it was unfertilized. I'm not sure if RESs store sperm but it is possible. What is the sex of your second RES ? What is the soil like by the pond ?

 

[Yvonne G]

RES will usually just poop out the eggs in the water if you don't give them a beach area of sand in which to deposit them. Then they will eat them. No big deal. She probably laid a few more besides the one you found, and already ate the contents. Is she with a male? Some water turtles don't lay eggs unless they've been with a male, and some females will lay several clutches a year having NEVER been with a male. You just never know until you see the eggs.

Yvonne

 

[Megan]

I really don't know much about her past. She was rescued far from water, with dogs attacking her She looks to be in good shape, just some light colored spots on her shell. The rescuer whom I got our DT from doesn't normally do turtle rescue so when she heard I had a pond, she asked me to take two. Surprise! My friend is taking her to his larger pond. We are keeping the smaller RES in our pond. I don't know the sex.

She has not left the pond to lay the eggs even though she is able and there is ample sand/dirt to lay them in all around the pond.

Thanks everyone!

 

[purpod]

Hello and COOL, lol!

From what I have seen of water torties with eggs, as long as they are not floating on one end, they are viable ~ I was also informed not to change the positioning of the eggs...

I had two water torties that could not be kept as I was moving across country, and so I released them in our acre property that had water along the edges {it was a green belt that ran along the back edge of our property} I was told to be careful not to change the positioning of the eggs when I did such, but since I moved, I have no idea if they did indeed hatch.

Bestest wishes on gaining lots of advice ~
Purpod