Mating turtles question?

Question

I have two western painted turtles. They are definitely the opposite s*x and are almost five years old. I read that they start mating around five years old so I have a few concerns. They live in a tank with these dimensions: 40' by 20' by 26'. It holds somewhere around 20 gallons but we only fill it half way. They have a large floating foam rock that they rest on. I've done some research but I'm still not sure how they "do it", how the whole egg process works, or any of that stuff. Luckily my cousins have bred their turtles and they said they would teach us stuff if our female lays eggs. Until then I want to know everything I need to know. Also, where will she lay her eggs? On the bottom of the cage or on the rock thing. Or should I buy something for the eggs? Do I need to seperate the female and male when there are eggs? Help! Thanks in advance!!

Answer 1

She needs somewhere to bury her eggs, you should build some sort of compartment with a soil/ sand mixture, but try to make sure it doesnt get too wet (its ok if its damp) if she wants to she will dig and lay eggs in there. If she lays eggs in the water they will die. If she doesnt have a suitable place to lay her eggs she might retain them inside her, and then they could become calcified and she could die. She will need extra calcium to help eggs develop. And if she is egg bound she might not eat for a few weeks. Quite often the first batch of eggs might not develop properly so if any do hatch that are deformed or sick you must be prepared to cull them. I have found a few pages for you to look at that you might find helpful.

Good luck!