Mating season question

Hi. Would mating season make a female beardie lose her appetite? Mine is currently going crazy, running and digging in her viv. She’s 10 months old. We thought she had eggs in January but she never laid.
Thanks

Hello,

Typically yes, But those are mainly egg laying behaviours. Are your SURE she doesn't have eggs? The best way to detect eggs is going to a reptile vet and asking to do an ultrasound to check for follicles. Does she live with any other dragons?

The behaviour will Most likely go away soon after mating season. But I definitely recommend getting her checked out by a vet to check for eggs.

If She does have eggs make sure she has enough calcium and the proper UVB.

-HippieLizards.

She’s housed alone. I took her to a reptile vet last time she started showing this behaviour, and he said that it was very possible that she would lay eggs as he could feel a structure in her stomach. I was going to get an ultrasound done but he said he’d rather save us money as he could feel already feel something.
The day she came home from the vet, she was completely back to her usual self.
I still have her lay box in her viv from last time and she has been digging in it. Is it possible she reabsorbed the follicles the first time and could be doing that again?

That's good that she has no cage mates. and Yes, Definitely do keep her lay box in the cage for the meantime. What substrate are you using for her and her lay box? What type of UVB bulb do you have? Coil or tube? T8 or T5? How old is it? Is your vet a reptile vet or a "exotics" vet? or just a regular dog or cat vet?

From what I have read, Females can reabsorb the eggs if they are not given a suitable area to lay them. Usually they will just lay them wherever, but some might hold on to them and get eggbound, and some might absorb the eggs over time. If Your dragon is egg bound you MUST get those eggs removed. If the Follicles turn into eggs and do not drop into the oviducts they could rot inside her belly and kill her. The Most common symptoms of egg binding is not eating, Lethargy, Unresponsiveness, or Appearing stressed out.

I'm no expert on Dystocia (egg binding) you should probably PM someone who knows more about this than me such as EllenD, Drache613, AHBD, Kingofnobbys, or Cooperdragon, I Bet they will know what's going on as they have had YEARS of experience and have a TON of knowledge about bearded dragons.

But mainly just keep giving her calcium and multivitamin+UVB and hopefully she will be back to normal.

-HippieLizards.

The vet is an exotics vet, he works in a lot of zoos and such. Her laybox is in her viv, the vet told me to use a cat litter tray for her as she could easily get into it and she prefers it to the bigger box I have in there. I’m using plain sand as substrate for her laybox.

The uvb is an Arcadia 12% t5 floodlight, and it’s about 5 months old. I’m struggling to give her calcium and her multivitamin as she’s not eating, but she’s had them in the run up to this happening.

What’s making me think it’s mating season is that she starting acting like this is January for about 3 weeks, and then returned to her normal self so quickly. I don’t think she’s showing any signs of being egg bound, she’s still very active, no black beard and she’s alert. But I’ll definitely keep an eye out for those signs just in case it does happen.

Thanks for those user suggestions!

Your welcome, Your UVB is good.

I Have heard that sand mixed with topsoil and vermiculite sometimes works as a lay box substrate. If she's not eating at all and has eggs then she might be egg bound. Not eating normally is the beginning sign. Then followed by black bearding and the other symptoms. If She starts showing any more symptoms then you MUST take her to the vet ASAP. I Think your best bet right now would to PM one or all of the people I mentioned. As I said before, They know much more than I do so you should ask for their opinions on what to do.

Keep me posted.

-HippieLizards.

I’ll let you know what happens.
Today is the first day she’s gone without eating since this has started, she only ate one feeding yesterday but today she’s refused food completely.
If I remember correctly, last time the not eating period lasted for around a week and a few days but she would sometimes eat up to 5 small locusts now and then if she wanted them. And the vet gave her some recovery diet as I was worried about her not eating as she’s still quite young.
I’ve PM’d AHBD as they helped me a lot during the first time this happened.
Thanks again

Ok, Good. Your doing everything good.

If it lasts more than two weeks you should definately do something. If I were you I would PM multiple people, AHBD is very knowledgeable about beardies. It would also be good to PM Drache613 and EllenD as well. I Know Drache613 has tons of experience with this sort of thing. So you should definately PM her.

-HippieLizards.

Good news! She just ate crickets and ate a little bit of squash yesterday!! I’m so relieved haha

Yay!!!!

Good to hear that she's eating!!