tutles

Question
QUESTION: hey i have a turtle that is pregnant and i was told by another girl that i had to put a 50/50 mix of sand and soil into the tank for her but she was not sure if water had to be put into it as well and i was just wundering if you could help me out and tell me please.

ANSWER: It would help to know the species and age or size, and the sort of set-up you have.

Assuming this is a female Red-ear Slider or similar species, getting it to nest properly in captivity is tough because they are rather choosy in their nesting sites. Most of the recommendations you read about have a low chance of success.

Here is a good article on the subject with several helpful links... http://www.redearslider.com/reproduction.html

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QUESTION: its a yellow bellied turtle 2 years old and about 7-8 inches in length. she is in a 3 ft tank with the heater and filter and one of those heat bulbs if that helps at all.

Answer
2 years old is pretty young for a Yellow-belly- they generally do not hit sexual maturity until about 4-5 years old, and often lay mostly infertile nests until 5-7 years old. However, the length sounds long- is this the shell length, and if so, how measured? We usually figure sexual maturity at about 5" long, shell only, measured in a straight line rather than along the curve.

Most home breeders have the best luck with either an outdoor pond with good nesting soil around the pond, or with a tank that allows access to a largish secondary tank with about a foot-deep soil and sand mix- warmed and kept slightly damp. The best nesting tanks look like http://www.waterlandtubs.com/WATERLANDTUBS.html

Otherwise, the link I provided earlier is a good resource.