alright so my euro pond terrapins are breeding, funny i can only compare it to the amplexus of amphibians.

any way i want to know what the cheapest way of providing a female with an egg laying site is, all ideas welcome, ive got two spare tanks, a three foot and a two foot.

so far im a little stumped for ideas and i dont want to be caught of guard. my red ears laid eggs and i didnt even notice them breeding, lost all but one egg and things dont look too good for that one at the mo.

thanks for reading,

reaper1

Put a plastic tub full of sand in the tank, the top a couple of inches above water level so it stays dry, and with a ramp so she can climb into it.

I'd love to get some Euros and would be very interested to hear if you breed them successfully.

Have you actually seen them mating, or are they just going through the motions of fanning? How old are they?

Should have mentioned the sand needs to be damp but not waterlogged, just enough for it to bind together, and the basking lamps need to be above the sand area.

id seen them breeding at the store were i got them from (stockport pet warehouse) so i took them home, seperated them for a few weeks then reintroduced them, anyway there going through the 'humping' process now, so im pretty sure the inevitable will happen. id say there a good 15 cm shell length.
thing is i dont want to risk the lil lady getting egg bound, really must be quite a horrible way to go. ill try that out an if i do breed em succesfully ill let you know.

From mating to laying generally takes around 4 weeks so you have a while to prepare something, but you need to get the sand area ready at least a couple of weeks in advance so she can familiarise herself with it.

Do you have an suitable incubator?

They sound great turts, do you have some pix? Euros are one of my favourite species.

no i dont have an incubator, thats my problem, but i do have a freind whos quite experianced with herps so ill talk to him about it, but if you have any advice id be more than happy to listen.

The most important thing, apart from a stable temperature of course, is humidity. Turt eggs require higher humidity than most reptile eggs, and that's where most people seem to go wrong.

I built my incubator similar to this one DYI-Homemade Incubator, still waiting for my pair of Southern Painted Turtles to get it on so I can put the thing to use though!

now thats a brilliant idea, i will most probably do that.

It's quite clever, the water filled base assures high humidity, and the water heater has a built-in stat so no expensive Habistat required.

I've test run mine for several days at a time and the temp is always rock steady.