Beardie laid first time clutch, only 8 fertile eggs! Help!

Hi guys!
I have had my female beardie Xia for about 8-9 years now, and about 4 years ago I adopted a 1 year old male called Malcom. They have been living together in the same terrarium since, and have never had any issues with each other, they get along so well.

This morning I go to change their water dish, and I take it out and there are eggs in the sand underneath! 4 of them were infertile, but I torch tested the other 8 and they have embryos in them. My female has never laid a single egg before, fertile or infertile and it came as a massive surprise. I removed the 8 viable eggs and put them in vermiculite and I am going to pick up an incubator tomorrow, but I am worried about my female

I’ve read that normal clutches are around 20 eggs and that they can lay multiple clutches in a cycle, my beardie is definitely a bit skinnier but she’s still super active and hungry and running around, her appearance and behaviour haven’t changed one bit in the past few weeks which is why I’m so shocked she laid eggs. I’ve felt her belly and it doesn’t feel like there’s any eggs left, is it possible she only had these 8 eggs in her clutch? Or will she be laying more? I’m unsure what to do! Her behaviour seems the same, should I try making her a lay bin anyway? She laid the eggs in the corner where I accidentally spilt water into the sand and it became damp, but I’m not sure if she’s got any eggs left to lay. Is there a way to find out?
Thank you!

Hi there,

Firstly, thanks for reaching out to the community for help. At her age, fewer eggs and infertility are far more common. It is very possible that she will not lay more. However, they prefer to lay in the proper environment. Place her in a tub with moist coco fiber or moist clean play sand. She may dig and lay more eggs. At the end of the day, return her to her enclosure.

If you see her digging, place her in the lay bin again. You may put a low wattage heat lamp on the lay bin.

The eggs will need to be at 82-84 degrees and 70ish % humidity as soon as possible. You may run into further complications if you wait. The first 24 hours are relatively important.

Make sure to up her calcium intake and feed her more. She will need to recover (especially at her age).

Be certain that you are prepared to handle babies. Even a small clutch requires several hours of work a day and they are very costly. If you do not have these means, please do not hatch the eggs.

It can be a tricky process, so if you have any questions you are welcome to reach out to me directly here: [email protected]

Hope this helps!

PLEASE separate your male and female