All Turtles Message Board

crazychloe · Guest Joined: 12 Apr 2008 Posts: 2

I have a RES female that is about 5" long and a Map turtle male that is about 2 1/2" long. They have been housed together for about 2 months and from the beginning the RES was following the map turtle around doing the mating dance... Last night my sister said that they appeared to be mating to her. I read a little about females and eggs last night and I checked my female and sure enough she has the lumpy hard ball feel at her hind end. She has been digging like crazy. So, we moved her to a tank with soil in it and since last night she has completely covered herself in the dirt and pretty much stayed put. My questions are: First of all, will a map and RES mate and breed? Was my map old enough in the first place? SHould I assume the eggs are fertile and take care of them? How long will it take for her to release the eggs? What if they've been in there awhile since I had no idea? Thank you for your help!