Sudden weight loss after laying, but active and digging

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Smilobar

Member
Hello all,

My poor special little girl is a topic again. She had some weird beard swelling previously but she got over that pretty quick. We also found out around then that she was a girl! We had thought she was a male for a long time since she was a rescue.

OKAY sorry back to the main topic- she recently laid 30 infertile eggs, at 8 years old! She didn't want to lay them all at once unfortunately. She never showed any digging signs except ONCE. And that's when I gave her a large laybox tub (with a heat lamp and light over her for accurate temps). I tried every variation too- put her in it at night, in the morning only, in different rooms, different substrates, different lighting! But she never dug and just did not care. Then she started laying eggs 2-3 at a time, everywhere and anywhere. She didn't care about where, and I honestly think she just thought it was poop! She just would not dig anywhere or even try to look for a place to lay. I literally tried everything. Each egg came out fine with no issues though, and she was still eating regularly. Everything was normal, just popping out eggs along with tiny poops. She just looked at me like "What? I dunno what those things are, but they're not staying in my belly no more!" :roll:

She laid her last egg on last week. Then this past Monday (June 10th), she started to dig again. So we put her back in the tub, and she spent the whole day digging a hole. We checked on her every half hour. At hour 5, she was turned around with her butt in the hole, eyes shut. We came back half an hour later, and she had filled the hole and was ready to come out. We dug to see if she laid more eggs, but she didn't. She just dug a hole all day and filled it back in! :banghead:

She was extremely tired the day after she dug all day, which makes sense. But now it's a few days later, and she's digging like CRAZY! I put a smaller laybox in her enclosure so she can dig and get out when she wants to. I initially thought egg-binding, but she's eating regularly, has a lot of energy, and is very alert. She had not lost any weight during that whole egg laying time, but now she has lost a lot. She's lost fat in her tail and fat pads, and she is very skinny, like when we first rescued her. Here's a few weeks ago when we tried to get her to lay her eggs:

full


And this is her now, sorry, it's hard to tell but she's definitely skinny (I'll try to get a better picture when she stops digging -_-) :

full


I've been feeding her as much as she'll eat of Repashy's Grub Pie and Veggie Burger (which are AMAZING if you haven't tried them yourself, I cannot recommend them enough) though she's always had a hard time swallowing, so I have to be careful not to overfeed her so she doesn't choke. I went and got her some wax worms to eat too. I had been adding more calcium to her diet to help with the egg production when she was laying. And she's still pooping normal healthy poops, albeit smaller than normal size.

Could she be laying another clutch? She's not large like she's filled with eggs at all. I'm concerned because she has lost so much weight right after all those eggs, but confused because she shows no signs of illness at all. Has anyone every experienced this? She's an older gal that was raised in awful conditions before I got her, so I don't know what to expect!

Thanks in advance everyone! I've been scouring the forums constantly for advice, but I hadn't seen this issue pop up before. I appreciate the time reading this long post!
 

Tfulton30

Member
My beardie is 5 and recently laid about 28eggs over a month and she did lose a lot of weight. I have heard about them laying clutches one after the other. Adding the calcium is good, my little one had trouble getting a couple of the eggs out. I took her to an ER vet and they said that sometimes older beardies have trouble getting the eggs out no matter how much calcium they have. They had to pull 2 of them out. If she is eating and pooping normally I wouldn’t worry too much but use your instincts. If you think that something is wrong I wouldn’t hesitate to take her to the vet. How is she doing now?
 

Smilobar

Member
Original Poster
Thank you for your responses!

She's doing pretty well currently. She's eating bright at early and then going right to digging again for at least 6 hours. She's on her basking rock now, taking a nap. I will update with any new mannerisms if they pop up. That's my thought too- if she's eating and pooping, and being normal except the digging, there's not a huge concern. But if she continues to do this for much longer, I may have to take her to the vet to see if she has any eggs left in her that she's having trouble passing.

Thanks again!
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

They sure do know how to worry us to death!
Sometimes they will dig a burrow only to go back to it a few days or a week or so later. They like to
do test runs for digging burrows. I would definitely try to keep her eating & drinking as much as you
can. They will lose weight but she should start to gain it back once she gets hydrated.
Just watch her to be sure she doesn't start having trouble laying any eggs but as you were mentioning,
it might be a good idea to get some x-rays on her to see whether or not she has any eggs in her at the
moment or has some that haven't dropped yet.

Tracie
 

Smilobar

Member
Original Poster
Hi Tracie,

MAN yes they do! I'm always researching for days when things happen that are strange. Thank you for the info on test runs- I didn't know they would do that! She's eating regularly and voraciously! She's taking regular baths too, she almost fell asleep in one! I had to hold her above water while I got all the dirt off of her :lol:

She did poop out what looked like egg whites, a shell, and some other weird parts in 3 separate little poops. Looking at them all together looked like a deconstructed egg but everything was solid, no runny yolk or anything. She's still digging but the amount of time she's been doing it has started to lessen. Only a few hours of digging and then she rests in the hole sideways! She's quite the weirdo.

Thank you for the responses, and I will update if there are any changes!
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

They do keep us on our toes! :D How is your girl doing?
You are welcome. They often will dig before they lay, then leave the burrow only to return to it.
That is good to hear there wasn't any yolk in the stools though. Her digging is getting less now?
How are her colors looking today, hopefully no black beard?
I guess she is worn out with all of her digging & covered in dirt, too.
I'm glad to hear she is doing well overall!

Tracie
 

Smilobar

Member
Original Poster
Hi there!

She's doing very well- she's still digging! She's definitely not digging all day any more, but she will still dig in her dig box for a while, then dig in her hide, but she has lots of energy and still eats like a maniac! Her colors are good, no black bearding at all. She used to hold in her poo for days but now she just poops when she's got some ready... maybe she thinks she needs to void herself any time she feels pressure, now that she's experienced egg laying! :lol:

Either way, I think everything is good now! She's still a bit thin but I'm giving her as much as she can eat at one time, so she can put the weight back on. She's an old gal but she's still surprising me!

Thanks again for the help, and I feel much better over all this! <3
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Bless her! Well, it sounds like she is eating a lot now & for now, just playing in her dirt. LOL I am
glad she hasn't had any problems & her eating has picked back up also.
If her colors are looking good, that is definitely a great sign she isn't in pain or distress.
She is giving you extra cleaning duty huh, go figure. :D

Tracie
 

Smilobar

Member
Original Poster
Yes yes! I'll try to feed her as much as she can take without choking XD Apparently my husband found, along with some poo, something that looked like an egg in size and color, but it looked very dried up. Maybe it was leftover? I dunno but either way, I'm sure that's why she was digging like crazy...she's not black bearding or anything. She's alert, just chilling under her basking light like nothing happened. She is an ODD BIRD this lizard :?:

I'm just glad everything is normal. She's still skinny but she's still eating normal. I'm gonna go out and get some roaches this weekend too. Try to get her to eat as much as possible!
 

Smilobar

Member
Original Poster
Well I gave her a bath tonight and she started to choke on the water she drank! She then threw up everything I had given her to eat this morning, but she never swallowed it! She just kept it in her beard!

While she was choking, I tipped her face down so water would fall out of her mouth, she went limp and I massaged her throat and chest. She came back and continued to gasp like crazy! I kept her head elevated on my chest until she stopped gasping, then put her under her basking light to warm up.

When I looked in her mouth, there was a bunch of saliva and innards, but I didn't see a clear "throat hole". I'm not sure what it SHOULD look like but she's fine now...

She's had issues with swallowing in general in the past few years, but even when I took her to the vet for a swollen beard issue, they didn't find anything obscure. I'll have to change to syringe feeding her some Repashy now- I don't want food to rot in her beard! She's still recovering from egg laying weight Wise. The poor thing ?
 

Smilobar

Member
Original Poster
I made some Repashy Grub Pie into a warm slurry this morning and fed her with a tiny measuring spoon. She gobbled it up with no problem! I can't push Repashy food enough, they and I LOVE that stuff! So if I can feed her twice a day that way, she won't choke anymore. Poor little thing, she's been thru so much this year already!
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Oh my, poor girl! I am sorry that happened. They sure do have trouble with drinking too much & then
choking on it, too. How is she doing today?
Since that happened, I would recommend keeping her around 80 or so, overnight, to be sure that her
immune system is running optimally. Maybe that will help keep any respiratory infection possibility at
bay.
Were you able to get some food into her also?

Let us know how she is doing.
Tracie
 

Smilobar

Member
Original Poster
Yes actually! I fed her a lot of Repashy Grub Pie this morning as a slurry and she had no problem keeping that down and didn't gasp or anything! So I was able to get that into her, and I'll continue to feed her that and Veggie Burger for now. She sure has a hard time swallowing in general, so I'd rather keep her on a slurry for a little while to make sure she's consuming food instead of just keeping it in her beard!

Thank you, I'm glad she's okay, and I'm actually relieved to know my girl isn't the only one that has gotten too excited about water!
 
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