Carrying eggs or retaining fluid?

Hey all, hoping for some input.
I took both my beardies to the vet today for the first time. I visited their mobile office, so testing options were limited.

Richter got a clean bill of health besides possible pin worms, and was administered an oral dose of dewormer.

Simon, however, the vet took out and was concerned about how round she is right away. She advised she may be carrying eggs (infertile) or retaining fluid. I initially took them both for a check up due to Simon having no appetite and straining to use the restroom. She administered oral dewormer and a full syringe of a dark red/brown gel that I do not recall the name to. She asked if Simon did not poop in two weeks to have her come to her office for an X-ray.

Those more experienced, does this sound plausible? This is my first time seeing a reptile vet, and she does have bearded dragon experience. She did state Simon had way too much energy to be impacted and was really leaning to carrying eggs, however could not feel any lumps, just "fluid"

Just about 2 years old
36X18X18
Basking 105
Reptisun T8 10.0
Tile floor
Recent mouth shed

Hasn't been too interested in food for about 2 weeks, but will eat a few insects a day and I've been feeding her baby food squash via dropper. Seems thirsty often, passes only yellow tinted urates with a pathetic amount of poo. Not gaining or losing weight.

Input is appreciated

After doing some research into this more, it seems she's exhibiting all the behaviors of being gravid:
:arrow: Lack of appetite but maintaining weight
:arrow: Lack of bowel movements, minus tinted urates
:arrow: Scratching at the tile prior to attempting bowel movement
:arrow: Active, alert, and energetic

She has definitely not been losing weight, but appears to be mainly maintaining weight, if not gaining just a few grams (was hoping this was from what I've gotten her to eat.)
I will be looking into picking up some liquid calcium to give her with water as well as creating a lay box.

I have large black totes I can use as a dig box as I do not want to overcrowd her 40g breeder, along with a screen top and extra domes to provide heat. I am planning to mix play sand with top soil and moisten it to hold form, but not overly wet. The vet I saw recommended peat moss from a local greenery/plant shop that I am also considering.

Please let me know if I am on the right track or if she is exhibiting symptoms of something different.

I am unfortunately at work and cannot begin on this immediately and will have company over for the remainder of the night after work (family.) I would have liked to have started right after the vet yesterday but immediately was out to eat and to see a movie, returning well after 10:30pm.
I will try and pick up the liq cal at least and play sand immediately after work - I believe I have topsoil at home from house plants.

Hi there, I agree that it's quite possible that she's gravid, infertile eggs aren't always able to be felt. Set the nest box up ASAP, put about 10" of sand + topsoil. Dampen it and pile it up higher on one end so you can have a hill, then start a tunnel for her using your hand to scoop it out a bit. Most beardies will go for that spot that looks like a nice digging area to them. They dig until they feel that it's just right, then they turn around with their head facing out of the hole and will take anywhere from 40 -90 minutes to lay. Put her in for a couple hours, if she doesn't dig, take her out. Then try again a couple hours later. Keep her hydrated....if she is gravid she will most likely lay eggs any day now. It's normal for them to pass smaller poos and be restless. The only time to be concerned would be if she became very lethargic, not moving and laying around with maybe even a black beard.

Thank you!
I will be setting this up as soon as I get home in the small amount of time I have until company arrives. I will be leaving 30min early from work to start getting this taken care of.

I take it a large black tote will be suitable (unsure of the size, but it's identical to my roach colony bin.
Will she need a quiet room or would right on the floor next to her current enclosure be sufficient? (located in the living room, same room company will be in.)

I initially was under the impression she was a little backed up until the vet saw her. She was given a syringe of a dark red/brown gel orally to help things "pass along" if needed. Do you know what this may have been? I also take it that it will provide no ill effects

She's probably better off in another room. And the stuff vets give to help possible impaction/constipation is Enulose or Lactulose. For future if you ever need to help with that you can use canned pumpkin, unsweetened applesauce or baby food squash and a few drops of veg. oil added to any of those. They are natural laxatives.

But if she's getting ready to lay, that would be the reason she's not pooing like usual right now.

AHBD":1j1gcx12 said:

She's probably better off in another room. And the stuff vets give to help possible impaction/constipation is Enulose or Lactulose. For future if you ever need to help with that you can use canned pumpkin, unsweetened applesauce or baby food squash and a few drops of veg. oil added to any of those. They are natural laxatives.

But if she's getting ready to lay, that would be the reason she's not pooing like usual right now.

Click to expand...

Thanks again,
I've actually been providing baby food squash and apple sauce mixed with a bit of olive oil to no result :? So I figured maybe she was just reeaaallllyyyy backed up... It happened right after introducing her to super worms, so i immediately thought the worms were the culprit. She seemed to like the squash at least so I continued with it as she was not eating otherwise.

I've never had a dragon with poo issues or gravid so it was a bit confusing...

There's still a possibility that she's taking much longer to poo becauseof the supers, but only time will tell. Impactions in a healthy dragon are easily passed even if it takes a couple weeks. So now you just have to wait to see whether she produces eggs or a big poo.

Alrighty, so I ran to Home Depot and picked up 2 50lb bags of Quikrete play sand.. *wheeze* turns out 1 was sufficient... Now debating if returning $3 is worth the drive and effort to carry :lol: I'll use it for gardening, I suppose.

So I mixed 50lbs of sand with some topsoil in a large black tote, mixed in water until it was mushy, put a lamp over it, let it heat up a bit, created an incline, started a tunnel, and added dragon.

She was curious for a while, walking around licking the sand, but then proceeded to run around trying to find a way out. I left her for a while, hoping she would get used to it, get the idea, and dig, but she just ran around the edges trying to climb out. After 30 mins, I removed her, gave her a toasty bath and some water, patted her dry, and put her back to bask :?

I'll try again once home today, but I didn't want to leave her in a sand tote panicking for 8 hours while at work. I scooped some dampened sand into a to-go container (about 10" long by 2" deep) this morning and put it into her enclosure in her usual dig/poop spot (tile) in the hopes that it's at least something if she needs it, or at least figures out she can dig in it for when she's in the big bucket.

Any other tips or advice is appreciated

Yes, that's the way to do it. The mixture should be just damp, hopefully not too mushy. Put her in again right away when you get home. She'll have a good time in her tank flinging the sand out of the small container. :lol: You know that beardies look for precisely such opportunities to mess up their castle.

Here is a dig box that I had success with in some of my larger tanks. It's about 20 L X 10 W X 7 H.
https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/30026/full

A section of lid cut off makes it accessible, cozy + cave like and eliminates the problem of much of the sand being thrown out.

Ooooo, I like that idea. I'll have to see what other options I have at home, or run to the store for something similar - I grabbed the to-go container in a pinch. And no, the sand is moist, not muddy, no worries I keep touching it thinking it's dry and it's still dampened and able to be manipulated.

The enclosure she's in is relatively small (36x18x18 as mentioned) but she herself is a small little dragon (16.5" after 2yrs) and she has about 2 levels to her enclosure with her little hanging bridge she loves. I could likely add a larger dig box in the enclosure for when I'm away, but yes I fully expect to come home to a dirty enclosure :lol: She's also clearly been trying to dig in her food dish as I've come home to dry pellets flung around, so hopefully the sand box proves more fun/useful. Luckily I need to vacuum anyway

Since she's a little girl a plastic shoe box would work in her tank with a section of lid cut off and a log placed next to it for access.

The vet I saw informed me the gel given was nutrical. I don't see one intended for beardies, but it appears just to be a gel of calories and nutrients for animals that are off food. I'm unsure if this would do anything to help pass things along but it hasn't done anything for her appetite

O.K, he thought she needed some extra nutrients then. That's fine, and remember that it's normal for the females to lose their appetite before laying. Do you happen to have a pic of her showing the bloated belly ? Don't bother her if she's in the laybox now unless you could just sneak a pic.

Thing is, is she's not really that bloated to me.
She wasn't digging so she had a bath, water, butternut squash baby food mixed with calcium, padded dry, and back to basking.

There's some evidence she at least touched the lay box jr in the enclosure, but the obvious dig spots are from me trying to show her.
There's also a beautifully dark photo of the lay box, the tunnel has been reconstructed by me

No, she isn't really bloated looking, not sure why the vet thought so. The large dig box looks perfect, very inviting if a dragon is carrying eggs.