my beardie hates her lay box

Hi,

My beardie Zebby has eggs at the follicle stage, we have been told by many people to put her in a lay box. As soon as I put her in there she puffs up for no reason and gives me a really dirty look. so I was wondering what else I could do, she really hates it, I don't understand why! I'm just a bit worried because I do not want her to get ill.

What does the box look like and contain and where is it?

Maybe she is just feeling disgruntled and doesn't want to leave her home a be placed in a box.

its a large plastic container half filled with reptile sand.i'm really worried you see, shes the first beardie i have had. it is in the same room as her vivarium. Would she lay her eggs in her vivarium?

Hi there, it's good that you're thinking ahead + have made a laybox. Two things to consider....if she is just in the follicle stage then she has no interest in this strange place you're putting her in. A gravid beardie that is near laying time and carrying shelled eggs rather than just follicles will begin to explore, looking for a place to dig but at the follicle stage there's not much interest in looking to dig.

For your laybox, are you using reptile sand that is calcium based ? If so, that's not good for a laybox. You'll want children's play sand [ large bag at any gardening center, Lowe's/Walmart/Home Depot ] You can use it alone or mix with plain store bought topsoil from the same stores. Mix those with enough water to be damp but not wet, it should be about 10" deep so she can dig a nice deep cave.

the sand i am using does not have calcium in it. it is the pro rep desert sand that she has. the vet didnt give me a lot of information you see. we took her to the vets 3 weeks ago, how long roughly would it be until she will be laying, i am also thinking of brumation, she is showing signs of it - sleeping earlier than normal and the last 2-3 days shes been off her food not completely shes just not eating as much. she has put on a little weight too would brumation affect it?

You don't need that stuff, playsand [ not consruction sand ] is the best because you need a lot to make a good, deep laybox. A dragon that has eggs will not be going in to brumation. If the vet actually saw follicles then they should be growing [ unless they became reasorbed ] and she would eventually become heavier, restless and begin to dig. Just watch for those signs to know that she's near laying time. She wouldn't be acting sleepy with the exception of becoming eggbound, but she would seem ill, blackbeard and very lethargic in that case.

she has started digging about in and out of her viv. shes not blackbeard and very happy for us to pick her up etc. she goes to sleep earlier but during the week we are not here until we come home from work so who knows what she gets up to, she may just be tired from running about. we are thinking about putting a webcam up so that my partner can watch what she does while we are not there he works with computers you see. every weekend shes running about so i dont think she's sick, the vet she was in the best health he had ever seen in a bearded dragon.