Palpating for eggs is a farily simple procedure to check to see if your female is gravid. You must be very careful not to prod too hard when checking for eggs. It can be done smoothly and quickly with no harm to the female.
To begin, you want to keep your turtle as calm as possible. You can see that I hold her in a slight upright position without moving her around. When she starts to move her legs, I wait for her to stretch her back legs completely out.
I touch her back foot a few times so she does not panic when I grab her leg.
Murphy is enjoying her foot rub.
I then grab her back leg and stretch it out as far as I can. This does not hurt her. If you notice in the picture at the left, I keep my index finger free. This is the finger I use to palpate.
I insert my finger in front of her back leg, holding the leg out with my thumb and other fingers. My finger tip is in as far as it will go and next to a 'pocket' of skin. I tilt her to the side that my finger is on to allow the eggs to shift.This will not hurt the eggs if you palpate gently.
Sometimes, I will do the same on the opposite side, holding both of her back legs extended and an index finger inserted in each side. I then tilt her both ways to get a better feel for eggs. If they are there, usually you will feel them. This is not a fail-proof test as I have had females lay eggs when I have not felt any
Murphy is not uncomfortable with this. She is a red-eyed female as you can see. And yes.........she is gravid
