yellow bellied slider turtles

Question
I have 2 yellow bellied turtles. When they given to me I was told they were 2 males. So I never even gave it a thought as to having eggs. I have recently decided I have one male and one female. Big claws, long tail on one and short claws, short tail on the other. The female has two large eggs it looks like at the back of her bottom. I didn't think they were old enough but I guess I was wrong. Do you think the round objects at her bottom are eggs? they are hard to touch and her tail is tucked in. I have no idea what I need to do. She is still eating pellets which I guess is the first sign she is ready. I have no idea when she developed the round objects. I have noticed that she has been staying out of the water more and she id digging in the gravel. however 90% of her cage is water so chances are I am going to need to set up a different tank for her to lay her eggs. I realize that she can have more then one clutch of eggs. Do you have a web sight telling me in detail what I need to do for her and how to prepare for her eggs to be laid. Do they need to be placed in an incubator or can you leave them in a box and wait for mother nature to take her course? How long will this process take?

Totally unrelated to having babies but I have dug a pond outside and was wondering how to prevent preditors from harming my turtles. What exactly do i need to offer them? I would most likely bring them in for the winter monthes but it either that or I am going to need to get a large enclosure. My turtles are about the size of a mans hand. It has been just this year my males claws have grown long. Can you guess about how old that would make them? I didn't know to feed them veggies so all this time I have been feeding them pellets like the person before me. I really didn't even know they were yellow bellied sliders until doind a little research online. I have no problem completely doing research but I would like to know some good sights that have good information about them rather then just some sights different people have made.Which is what I have found so far. Any information you could pass along to me would be greatly appreicated. I know this sound like I am a pet owner that doesn't know much about her pet but to be honest I thought they were both males and I didn't need to worry about it. We get tons of enjoyment out of watching them. They have been doing this little face swatting thing for a long time. I just thought it was how they interacted. Guess I was wrong. I hope you can help me.

Answer
http://www.turtle-care.com/Turtle_breeding.htm

That site should answer the breeding and egg laying parts of the question.

The rest really depends on where in the country you are.  Here in FL we keep turtles outside year round with no issues inside enclosed chain link fence and have really no issues.  To briefly touch on the diet and feeding them veggies thing yeah varied diet in the turtles is good they also eat meat you can feed them mice and rats as well as other various foods.

As for everything else I'll add on to the question a bit more when ihave more time I've just  been working 13 hour days everyday and have very little tiem to answer questions as thoroughly as I would like.  Feel free to post a follwup with anything more specific you need to know in the meantime.