red eared female laying eggs

Question
I have 3 red eared sliders that were given to me 2 years ago and they are in a classroom setting. I have 2 females and 1 male in a 100 gallon tank with a basking dock. During the summer, the custodian feeds them each day and I come in every 2 weeks to clean the filter/tank.  Since the turtles were given to me, I don't know their exact ages. The females could be about 4-6 years of age. I was changing the filter and cleaning the tank today and I noticed what looked like pieces of eggs on the bottom. About 45 minutes after cleaning the tank, I noticed the water was cloudy and there was an egg on the bottom of the aquarium. One of the females was in the process of eating the egg. They have never lain eggs before and I was wondering what I should do. Thanks for your input.

Answer
Hello Beth, it is likely that they have laid eggs before but perhaps you haven't seen them until now?

Female Red Ear Sliders (RES) will lay eggs even without a male present. They are of course infertile and will never hatch but they still need a proper lay area.

If a female has no place to lay her eggs and doesn't feel comfortable laying them in teh water she can hold them in causing severe damage to herself. They will continue to grow inside of her and eventually break open killing herself and the eggs.

To prevent any problems you need to give her a lay site within the tank. I will give you a link with how to do so.

It is your choice what to do with the eggs. You can freeze them and discard them, as many people do. Or incubate and try to hatch them.

It is recommended that you don't try to incubate them however because of the over population of these animals in the pet trade and constantly being mistreated. Its a very controversial subject.

She probably still has eggs in her so the sooner you can get her a lay site the better.

Here is the link:

http://redearslider.com/reproduction.html

If you need clarification or more information then given here and in the link let me know.

Good luck
Yexalen