# Yellow bellied slider nesting conditions



## ttttt

hi all, Im thomas and I live in Ireland. I currently have a suspected gravid YBS. She is approx 6 inches in size and is about 4 and a half years old.
She went off her food so i believed she was sick until I researched it around three weeks ago. She then started eating again after 4 days for 3 more days. Out of the blue after i had cleaned her tank last saturday or possibly the saturday before it ( times flying while im trying to get her to lay) she laid an egg under water. It was broken so i disposed of it.
I then grabbed a box which is 12x8x7 inches filled it with soil/sand mixture and popped her in it. She didnt lay or even consider digging any times I put her in so i tried letting her outside despite the fact its 10 degrees followed her round and she did the same despite touching her muzzle off the ground a few times.
So i need advice on how to make a CHEAP nesting box and the conditions it needs to be? I dont want the eggs as i dont have space or time unfortunately so just enough to induce laying soon before her eggs bind :/
Thanks you in advance


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## Graham

A plastic box filed with soil/sand mix, at least as deep as the length of her shell, placed inside the tank with a ramp or some other means by which she can climb out of the water when she wants, it can double as a basking area. If she is gravid she will lay when she's ready, not when you put her in a box, but she may still consider the box unsuitable and lay in the water.

Putting her out in the garden whatever the weather is not a good idea, she'll feel stressed and vulnerable and will definitely not lay under those conditions, and she may want to visit potential nesting areas several times to decide whether or not they are suitable anyway.

Are the eggs likely to have been fertilised, does she have a mature male in the same tank?


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## ttttt

Thanks for the reply
Em i took her out when she frantically paddled upwards usually she does it early in the morning, em i shall try raise the box up but it ways around 15 kilos. And no i believe the other turtle despite being smaller is also female because she has short claws and her 'vent' is inside the rim of her shell


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