How Often Do Red Eared Sliders Lay Eggs( With Pictures and Video)

Red Eared Sliders are one of the most widespread turtle species in the world. And one factor is the rate at which they reproduce.

How often do Red Eared Sliders lay eggs? Red Eared Slider females usually lay between 3 and 5 clutches of eggs per year. The clutches are usually laid 15 to 30 days apart.

As you can see a turtle will usually lay a minimum of 30 eggs per year and a maximum of around 150. This is by no means a small number of eggs, but compared to other turtle species that can lay up to 1000 eggs per year, the 150 seems quite insignificant. So let’s take a look at what makes Red Eared Sliders lay so few eggs, and only 3 or 5 times a year.

What influences the amount of eggs and the times that they are laid

For e species to avoid extinction and remain at least constant in numbers, every couple needs to produce at least two other individuals that will reach adulthood, and that will also successfully reproduce. So basically every female red eared slider turtle needs to have at least 2 babies that will become adults. Of course, some female red eared slider turtles can have a lot more than 2, some can have 20 or even 50, but at the same time, a lot of them can have none.

Most baby turtles have a hard life, and unfortunately, most of them don’t reach adulthood. But compared to most baby turtles, red eared slider baby turtles are not exposed to so many dangers. And as a result red eared slider turtles started laying fewer eggs.

At first, this doesn’t seem like the best idea, after all, why would you have fewer babies if you want to have as many as possible. At this point, something different comes into play, and this something is strongly tied to “ quality over quantity “.

How the Size of a Red Eared Slider Turtle Influences the Amount of Eggs That It Will Lay

I think this one is pretty obvious, but it’s still very important, so I believe that it still needs to be mentioned.

Until the eggs are laid they will be stored inside the female red eared slider turtle. So if a red eared slider turtle is smaller, it will be able to hold fewer eggs than a turtle that is bigger.

This is probably one of the most influential factors. Probably even more than the ones that I already mentioned. This is because the size of the red eared slider turtle can influence those factors as well. If the turtle had more space inside to hold the egg, it would be able to lay more eggs, of the exact same quality, or even of better quality.

No matter how you look at things, more space will always equal more eggs, or better quality eggs for the red eared slider turtle.

Red Eared Slider Turtle Eggs

A turtle egg is not only a shell that will protect the baby turtle until it’s fully developed, it also contains a lot of nutrients that will allow the baby turtle to develop. So if the egg is too small there won’t be enough nutrients inside to allow the embryo to fully develop.

Turtles will still rely on the nutrients of the egg even after they hatch, they will have a small yolk sack, from the egg, that is attached to their carapace that will feed them through their first weeks of life until they are able to find their own food. So even if the turtles have enough nutrients in the egg to develop is not enough, they will still need some more to be able to survive the first weeks.

In this photo, you can see the yolk sack ( the small white bag ) attached to the plastron of the turtle

Photo by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region on Flickr

On the other hand, if the eggs are too big, then it’s just wasteful. While the turtles will be able to hatch without any problem and they would be able to survive enough time to be able to procure their own food, the amount of space used by the eggs would be unnecessary.

Theoretically, there is a perfect egg size for every species, including red eared slider turtles, but it will take a lot of time for each species to get there. And the fact that their environment can drastically change from a generation to another, doesn’t really help them achieve that perfect quality and quantity ratio. Even if red eared slider turtles won’t be able to achieve the perfect ratio too soon, they are not necessarily too far away from it.

Do Red Eared Slider Turtles Take Care of Their Eggs After They Are Laid?

No, in general turtles don’t take care of their babies or their eggs. The reason why they don’t take care of them is a completely different subject, but in short, I can tell you that they wouldn’t be able to do too much to defend the eggs, and in the process, they will most definitely get eaten, and they will probably also attract attention to the eggs as well. So it’s better that they don’t stay around.

Even if red eared slider turtles don’t stay around and guard their eggs, they still do their best to protect them. And they do this by hiding them. They do this by laying eggs in a nest that is well hidden. Usually, nests are hidden under piles of leaves, in holes, in burrows, and all the kinds of places that are hard to reach.

In general, turtles survive by hiding and by making themselves hard to notice. And this is what they do to protect their eggs.

Here is a video of a red eared slider turtle laying eggs in a hole in the ground:

Conclusion

I hope this article answered all of your questions regarding Red Eared Sliders eggs, but in case you still have some questions left, you can leave them in the comment section and I will answer them as soon as possible.

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