Does a female turtle need a male turtle to breed?

Answer 1

A female turtle needs a male turtle to make baby turtles, but she does not need a male turtle to lay eggs. She may lay eggs even without a male present. But the eggs will not be fertilized, and thus will not grow and develop into baby turtles. They will be like the chicken eggs you buy from the supermarket, which are also not fertilized and unable to grow into chicks.

There seems to be some confusion -- well, at least on my part -- about whether or not female turtles need to lay eggs. I have heard from two people -- one who answered the Related Question below, and one whom I know in my personal life -- that female turtles need to lay eggs periodically, or they will die. But when I mentioned this to my family, they said that one of the turtles we had growing up was female, and she never needed to lay eggs. I could have sworn they were both males, but I guess I'm misremembering things.

So, I know they can lay eggs without a male present. Whether or not they need to, I don't know.