when can female turtles (redeared slider) lay eggs and succesfully hatch babies...?(how old do the have to be)

Question

how old when they can have babies...i have 3 turtles in my tank, that hatched last spring.
all i know is that 1 is a guy and 1 is a girl. (dont know about the other, but it is leaving soon anyway.)
thanks!
brittany

Answer 1

If you decide to breed RES's you should have two females per male if you are housing them together all the time. Males can be so persistant with mating pressure, one female can become stressed.

Turtles may need to lay eggs even if they have not been with a male. These eggs are unfertile. Water turtles must have dirt to lay eggs in. It is unnatural and stressful for them to lay them in the water. Some will not lay in the water. Some will not lay in a special dirt tank either. If this happens, they become eggbound and this can be lethal. Turtles can be very picky about the dirt they want to lay in. Some will only lay in dirt outdoors in the ground.

Think twice before you have a mature female turtle housed indoors permanently. Please see this link:

Answer 2

Red-ears breed at around 4" long, which can take 4-5 years, depending on how they are raised.

Breeding Red-ears is a bit tricky. You need a nice big tank, a good soil beach to nest in, at least partial hibernation, and a good understanding of how this all works. You also need a plan for the babies- selling them, raising them, whatever.

Since these guys are babies, you have time to research. You will probably discover that most experienced keepers recommend not breeding this species for many reasons.

Good info can be found at http://www.austinsturtlepage.com

Answer 3

The Red-Eared Sliders will be mature enough to breed at about 5 years of age, then the female shell size is about 15 cm (6 inches).

Answer 4

they will be mature enough to breed at 5 years of age.

Check out this site for lots of tips on bredding them

http://reslider.free.fr/backup/breeding.html