Scared my beardie is egg bound

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lizdragon

Hatchling Member
Hey everyone. My beardie Liz is five years old and has been through a lot. She has MBD and has laid many clutches of eggs in the past. In 2019 she laid 8 clutches in a row, last year she only laid one. She started showing signs of laying about a week ago so my husband and I have been putting her in her lay box like we always do. The normal signs for her are acting restless (walking and digging around the cage), decrease in appetite, and making small poops daily.

Well two days ago we noticed that she had a black beard. It got a little better but is still black on the bottom. Then yesterday and today she has not been acting restless and she didn't make any poops. She's pretty much acting back to normal minus the black beard. If she hadn't had all those other signs before I probably would think nothing is wrong.

I'm taking her to the vet tomorrow morning but I'm very, very worried. All the posts I could find with people in a similar situation, their beardies passed away. I really don't want to lose her. One thing that is making me hopeful is that she is not lethargic. She's awake and alert, but not pacing around anymore but the slight black beard is really worrying. Anyone have any advice or reassuring words? We will do whatever it takes to save her.
 

lizdragon

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Sorry to reply to my own post but I wanted to update that after some time sitting in her lay box and a warm bath, her beard looks mostly back to normal. Maybe a little greyer than usual but I honestly can't tell. Hoping that's a good sign.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

That is a good sign her beard is not black though, hopefully. she is feeling a bit better.
She has not laid any this year yet? Egg laying is definitely hard on them. The best advice
we can give here is to simply keep her laybox handy so if she does need it then it's ready
for her.
Are you giving her extra calcium & fluids right now?
It does sound like she is about ready to lay so hopefully she wont have any trouble. The vet
should do an x-ray to try & determine where the eggs are, assuming there are some. If the
eggs have dropped to the point where she is ready to lay but needs help, he may try giving
oxytocin which is a hormone designed to help with muscular contractions, etc. It usually
works fairly quickly.

Let us know how she is doing & how it goes at the vets.

Tracie
 

lizdragon

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Drache613":vjn4bnrs said:
Hello,

That is a good sign her beard is not black though, hopefully. she is feeling a bit better.
She has not laid any this year yet? Egg laying is definitely hard on them. The best advice
we can give here is to simply keep her laybox handy so if she does need it then it's ready
for her.
Are you giving her extra calcium & fluids right now?
It does sound like she is about ready to lay so hopefully she wont have any trouble. The vet
should do an x-ray to try & determine where the eggs are, assuming there are some. If the
eggs have dropped to the point where she is ready to lay but needs help, he may try giving
oxytocin which is a hormone designed to help with muscular contractions, etc. It usually
works fairly quickly.

Let us know how she is doing & how it goes at the vets.

Tracie

This is the first time she's laid this year, though we have gone through this many times before. Though I'm not sure it's ever started this early so I'm hoping I'm wrong about it being eggs. The first time she laid eggs while living with me she had stopped eating for two weeks and I took her to multiple vets. Finally a specialist told me she had eggs and had given me the oxytocin to give to her..luckily she laid before I even got a chance to use it. But back then she had never stopped being active like she is now.

Yes we have been dusting her food with calcium. Luckily her appetite seems almost back to normal now? She had a few bites of greens and 3 superworms yesterday. Honestly if she hadn't been showing those signs before I wouldn't think anything was wrong. She does look quite fat though, which makes me believe it's eggs.

I will let you know how it goes at the vet! She'll be there in less than an hour. I'm really hoping for a good outcome and that we can avoid surgery, because I know that doesn't always work out well for beardies.
 

lizdragon

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Ok, Liz is all done with her vet appointment. Luckily the vet didn't think it was urgent and that she didn't seem to be in any pain. He did an x-ray which showed that he suspected eggs but wanted to send them to a radiologist to be sure. He also is giving her a few injections such as oxytocin, calcium, and some other things to make her feel better. Tomorrow we will know for sure from the radiologist if she has eggs, but right now it's looking like that's what it is. Really, really hoping the oxytocin helps because I know the prognosis for reptile surgery (if it gets to that point) is not good.
 

lisbetha

Member
Poor dear,

We lost our first beardie to egg binding and internal infection due to a burst yolk, but I will say there was a genetic predisposition there due to bad breeder habits - she was 5 and it was the first time she'd ever been gravid.

Calcium is really important for laying - not only for shell generation, but also for muscle contractions - at least that's the case in birds. I'd be very surprised if it wasn't the case in reptiles as well - so many things transfer over.

Keep an eye out for leg dragging and lethargy - those are the urgent signs, but calcium and heat and a relaxing environment are most important for birds.

Since she's laying annually, may just be a matter of piling on the calcium when she's coming out of brumation to keep her in the green for the future.
 

lizdragon

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
lisbetha":wpjuh66n said:
Poor dear,

We lost our first beardie to egg binding and internal infection due to a burst yolk, but I will say there was a genetic predisposition there due to bad breeder habits - she was 5 and it was the first time she'd ever been gravid.

Calcium is really important for laying - not only for shell generation, but also for muscle contractions - at least that's the case in birds. I'd be very surprised if it wasn't the case in reptiles as well - so many things transfer over.

Keep an eye out for leg dragging and lethargy - those are the urgent signs, but calcium and heat and a relaxing environment are most important for birds.

Since she's laying annually, may just be a matter of piling on the calcium when she's coming out of brumation to keep her in the green for the future.

I'm so sorry to hear you lost your first beardie to that! Yes, this is her first clutch of the year and last year she only laid one clutch, but in 2019 she laid 8 clutches in a row. She doesn't seem lethargic but she's also not restless like she was a few days ago. She has MBD so she doesn't move around a ton anyways. Tomorrow I will hear from the vet after the radiologist has taken a look at her x-rays. Hopefully they will be able to give us a clear answer of whether or not we're dealing with eggs.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

How is your girl doing today?
That's good she isn't lethargic right now, but that is too bad she has metabolic bone disease
because that makes it harder on her.
Let us know what the radiologist says regarding egg development in her. So the vet did go
ahead & give calcium & oxytocin then since he feels she likely has eggs?
I hope she is doing well & doesn't have any problems with eggs.

Tracie
 

lizdragon

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Drache613":1n52gpuh said:
Hello,

How is your girl doing today?
That's good she isn't lethargic right now, but that is too bad she has metabolic bone disease
because that makes it harder on her.
Let us know what the radiologist says regarding egg development in her. So the vet did go
ahead & give calcium & oxytocin then since he feels she likely has eggs?
I hope she is doing well & doesn't have any problems with eggs.

Tracie

Hi Tracie,

She seems to be doing okay, pretty much the same. She's basically acting like she normally does. She's in her laybox but doesn't seem like she has any intention of laying. I'm hoping the radiologist can give us some information on what's going on. He did give her calcium and oxytocin (along with some other things I can't remember) but she doesn't seem to want to lay. She's had MBD since I adopted her almost three years ago. She has laid 9 clutches since then (8 in 2019 and 1 in 2020). She's never become egg bound before but I feel like she normally takes longer than most beardies to lay.

Here's a picture of her looking bored and mad at me in her laybox today:
full
 

lizdragon

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
I spoke with Liz's vet a few hours ago. He said that the radiologist confirmed that there are eggs developing in "late stages" and that she should be ready to lay. He said this is good news, but Idk.. He said that it's possible the oxytocin he gave her wasn't enough to get her to lay but we should wait a few days to see how she does. Right now we gave her a short break from her lay box and she is basking.
I'm scheduling another appointment for her this weekend. If she lays before then, I will cancel it. If not, we will take her in and the vet said he can either give her more injections or he can board her there and give her continuous injections and watch over her. The only downside to this is that she will be in a foreign space and might not feel as comfortable to lay. Anyone have any perspective on this? I'm not sure what is the better option. Thanks everyone for the help.
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
I would keep her home, taking her in for her next appt. and another injection and then back home.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

I agree with AHBD, I would keep her at home right now, because she will be more comfortable
at home, with you.
I would hope she doesn't need too many oxytocin injections though. Be sure to give extra
fluids & calcium in case her levels might be low. Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie
 

lizdragon

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Thank you so much for your responses! Liz has not laid yet, but the good news is that Liz has been showing signs of laying eggs again. I'm wondering if maybe she just wasn't ready before. If she still can't lay soon we will take her back to the vet.

I do have a question about something unrelated. We noticed not long ago that she has a dark or discolored looking scale next to her right ear. It's not noticeable under her bright light and it's pretty small, but of course I'm still worried. I posted two pics, one is very close up so you can clearly see it. In the farther out photo you can see just how much it blends it. Does anyone have any idea what this may be?

full

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lizdragon

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Sorry to respond to my own post again :? but I was looking through old photos of her from years ago and it seems she always had that mark. I've never taken such a close up photo of it before but it's clearly there in older photos from far away. I feel stupid I never noticed it before. I'm hoping it's maybe just a blemish?
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
It's good that you were able to compare to older photos. If the mark is visible in those and hasn't changed, then it's just a natural scale color. Think of it like a freckle. They are common and harmless. Also a good way to help identify dragons since the marks are unique.
 
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