Yellow bellied slider mating question...

[ShadowBass]

Ok...well I was going to post asking what to do about my apparently male turtle who is 4 inches long (shell length) trying to mate with the 7 inch long turtle I just bought yesterday, but I think they just mated (not sure exactly what this should look like so not completely positive), so I guess I should include that...

They're both in a 125g tank with two turtle docks with uv lights above them for basking, no actual land.
We bought this larger turtle yesterday, it had been brought to our LFS, was being kept in like a 15-20g tank by previous owner, but all in all not in bad shape, so we figured we'd buy it and see how it got along with the little turtle we already had. I was worried it might try to injure my other turtle, but from what I read they're pretty social and after watching them for a couple of hours decided they were doing fine. I didn't pay attention to whether it was male or female, in fact I have absolutely no idea how to tell them apart.
I don't really know anything about these turtles other than what kind of light they need, that they need somewhere to bask, good water and plenty of room.

Well, earlier today my little turtle start doing his little mating dance thing for the bigger one. Wasn't positive what it was at first but we had our suspicions, so I looked up the behavior and of course that's what it was. Well as I mentioned earlier, I think they actually mated a few minutes ago.

My main question is, should I allow this behavior to continue? Will he stress her out constantly trying to get her to mate, or will his behavior eventually subside? If they DO/did mate what will happen now?
As I understand it turtles need to lay their eggs in a nest on land, and the only thing in the tank is turtle docks so she has nowhere to do that. Will she try to lay her eggs in there anyway? Will it cause her physical problems if she can't or won't lay them?

So for all the questions, I really have NO idea about turtles breeding and this wasn't anything that I was even suspecting so I never researched it at all.

Thanks for any info anyone can give me.

 

[Vicious_Fish]

Well it sounds like you now are the proud owner of a pair of YBS's. If you looked up info on their breeding habits, then I guess you know how to tell the sexes apart now. Males stay smaller and have long front claws while females get big, up to 10 inches and have short front claws.

Some male turtles can be very horny and will stress females out by trying to breed with them constantly. Just keep an eye on your turtles and if your male keeps pestering the female, you might want to separate them.

If actual mating took place, your female is going to probably lay eggs, about 2-10 of them. You are going to need a place for her to lay them in so on one end of the tank provide a tub, easily accessible to the turtle, with a mixture of moist soil, sand, moss or vermiculite. Make sure the tub is about 12" inches deep. Most water turtles lay several clutches per summer with as few as 2 and as many as 10 eggs. Make sure your female gets plenty of calcium and vitamin D3. Your female will be very restless when she is ready to lay eggs. It is important that she lays her eggs or she could die from egg binding.

I have never bred sliders before but I have bred painted turtles and their habits are somewhat similar. All my turtles were kept outside during the summer in a small pond and laid eggs in sandy soil I provided for them. I never bred any indoors. Good luck with your pair and I will try to help answer any other questions you have.

 

[ShadowBass]

Thanks for the info.

Well this morning they just seem to be laying on one of their docks basking and he's not bothering her, but I dunno about when they get in the water, lol.

I'll try to provide something for her. I kind of figured it might cause problems if she couldn't lay them since that seems to be the case with a lot of other animals.

Hopefully everything works out ok.