Gravid Beardie?

Hi! So the bearded dragon I have named Phil is a girl who is about 18 months old now, and for the past week or so she's been going crazy in her tank. She's been pacing and running around, pooping small poops almost every day (sometimes multiple a day), and her urates have a pink/red tinge to them. She's gained weight and looks visibly bigger. All of this leads me to believe that she's gravid. She has not been around a male so the eggs would be infertile.

My issue is that when she's pacing around (especially in the mornings) she almost always has a dark, black beard. I have a lay box ready for her with soil in it but she hasn't really started digging in her viv yet so I haven't put her in it for too long and so far she seems very disinterested in the lay box. She just goes crazy and has a dark beard with it. Her temps are normal but she refuses anything other than superworms for food at the moment. Her appetite has definitely gone up as well over the past week although she hasn't eaten much today yet. Her black beard often settles a few hours after she wakes up but she's just constantly black bearding until then. I'm just worried for her and want to know if this behavior seems normal for a gravid female? Thank you!

Hi there, yes it's all normal. She may be ready to lay so go ahead + put her in the laybox. And can you post pics of her + the laybox ?

This is her right now. Still blackbearding off and on.

and this is her lay box

I can try putting her in the lay box again today and I'll see if she does anything.

I agree, it sounds like she's getting ready to lay a clutch of infertile eggs...be sure to dampen the soil (adding some sand to it might be a good idea, but just as long as it will hold shape for her to be able to dig a tunnel/cave to bury her eggs in it's fine; you don't want it wet, just damp enough for it to hold shape). I'd just keep putting her in the laybox until she's ready to go. The pink tinting to her urates is probably a bit of excess calcium being excreted, which isn't necessarily a problem if she's laying eggs, she needs to be getting some extra calcium while going through this. However, sometimes the pink tinting can actually be a bit orange, which is more indicative of her being a bit dehydrated, and you don't want that, so I'd also be offering her water several times throughout the day on her snout for her to lick off, so that she stays hydrated. Sometimes it does take them a while to be ready to actually lay their eggs, so you just have to be patient (easier said than done, I know, lol).

If she just started losing her appetite today she is getting very close to laying time. Pile up a lot of the soil on one end of the plastic box and then get a large cardboard shoebox or similar sized box. Cut one end out of it + put that upside down the mounded soil so it's like a pre-made cave. Push the box down in to the mounded soil and start the beginning of a tunnel by hand. They like privacy for laying [although they may lay them at strange times + strange places ]

Thank you guys!! She's sleeping right now but I'll put her in the lay box tomorrow for a while and see if anything happens.

Edit: Also, about the dehydration thing! She's such a picky beardie. She won't lick water off of her nose, she barely eats greens (and I mean BARELY. only if a worm or roach is caught on it and she gets it by mistake.), and she won't drink water in the bath. Typically I have to try to rub the syringe on her mouth quite a bit with water to try to get her to lick any of it off and most of the time she'll drink a couple of drops and then shake her head and walk away. Do you have any solutions to this? She's been like this since I adopted her in October of last year.

My female is Gravid and nearing her egg laying stage, but I'm complete newbie when it come to this, so anything shared is of great value.

It's tough when trying to get them to eat greens and drink water willingly.

My boy (+-9 months - Rex) is happy to lick the water off his nose as I drop it on. He will actually take in quite a lot of water.

My female (+-1y1m - Raven) just refuses to take water in. I've had zero success in feeding them greens, and I've tried a host of things to get them ready.

The only way I can ensure that both are hydrated, I try to do the following every day:

* Bath them in Luke-warm water for +-10mins, and I always slash water over their entire bodies from head to tail-tip

* Spritz them with cool water, especially when they have their outside-time when it's nice and sunny

* Calcium coated Extra Large Grey Crickets, Dubia Roaches and Mealworms (2 or 3 each, once a week as a treat) are their choices of live feeders.