Took my beardie to a specialist; left with more questions

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Claudiusx

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Well at least at this point you have a lot of experience with this... :lol:

Just for curiosity sake, what is your protocol for after she lays her eggs? What are you doing in regards to feeding her and supplementation?

I only ask because I remember reading a study about an egg disease, and part of the study indicated that rich nutrient dense diets encourage the females to continue producing eggs. I'll have to find the study again.

It makes sense in the wild that they would produce as much as they could, as long as nutrients and energy were readily available. And that once picking gets slim, the body would stop and start storing them back up for mom instead.

Anyways, it's just a thought but where I'm leading with this is, perhaps you are feeding her too good. It's all just theory and this wouldnt be a good test for that as by 7 clutches youd imagine she'd slow down even if her diet continued this way, but it's just a thought I had the other day. Was going to wait to see if she was still producing before bringing it up.

So how long is it taking from egg laying to the next egg laying?

-Brandon
 

lizdragon

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
claudiusx":1zn8nr0d said:
Well at least at this point you have a lot of experience with this... :lol:

Just for curiosity sake, what is your protocol for after she lays her eggs? What are you doing in regards to feeding her and supplementation?

I only ask because I remember reading a study about an egg disease, and part of the study indicated that rich nutrient dense diets encourage the females to continue producing eggs. I'll have to find the study again.

It makes sense in the wild that they would produce as much as they could, as long as nutrients and energy were readily available. And that once picking gets slim, the body would stop and start storing them back up for mom instead.

Anyways, it's just a thought but where I'm leading with this is, perhaps you are feeding her too good. It's all just theory and this wouldnt be a good test for that as by 7 clutches youd imagine she'd slow down even if her diet continued this way, but it's just a thought I had the other day. Was going to wait to see if she was still producing before bringing it up.

So how long is it taking from egg laying to the next egg laying?

-Brandon

Nowadays when she is gravid she is still eating, which is good, but her appetite decreases when it comes to her greens. She will still eat her normal amount of bugs when gravid. So for the last few batches it's not like she has gone two weeks without eating like she did with her first batch. After she lays, we give her lots of greens (she likes Collards the most) which she will now eat after laying. As for bugs, I feed her dubia roaches mainly and sometimes superworms. The vet I take her to (who I was told is the best exotics vet in NYC) told me to not dust her food with calcium anymore, but to give her bugs gut loaded food instead.

Do you have any suggestions for different food I should be giving her? I'm totally open to them. She's a bit picky with certain things, like she will only eat greens (no fruit or squash, or anything like that).

Her last few clutches have been about 3 weeks apart I believe.
 

lizdragon

Hatchling Member
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And thank you so much for thinking of Liz! I'm so happy I have this forum so I can get advice from all you experts :D
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Wow, clutch # 7 did you say ? She is a machine ! I disagree with the advice to stop calcium. We don't even stop calcium dusting with non laying dragons. It's good to gut load the insects, that's for sure but a light calcium dusting at least 2-3 X a week is what I would recommend. Think of how much calcium it takes out of her body to form well over 150 or more eggs.
 

lizdragon

Hatchling Member
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AHBD":o43fdnmo said:
Wow, clutch # 7 did you say ? She is a machine ! I disagree with the advice to stop calcium. We don't even stop calcium dusting with non laying dragons. It's good to gut load the insects, that's for sure but a light calcium dusting at least 2-3 X a week is what I would recommend. Think of how much calcium it takes out of her body to form well over 150 or more eggs.

Yeah to be honest, I thought that was odd advice too. I even called the vet and double checked after she laid her second clutch that that's what they wanted me to do. So honestly after she lays I do dust her food a bit. But after a few days have passed since laying, I stop dusting. Maybe I should continue dusting? Not sure if that would change anything with the egg situation but maybe I just should do it in general.
 

Drache613

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Hello,

Wow, Liz is really laying a lot of eggs....poor girl!
I agree, definitely don't discontinue the calcium because egg development really zaps the
calcium stores absolutely.
I hope that she is doing well regardless of all of her laying. Is she eating much right now?
Post some pictures of her when you get a chance also.

Tracie
 

lizdragon

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Drache613":aj5ez5vf said:
Hello,

Wow, Liz is really laying a lot of eggs....poor girl!
I agree, definitely don't discontinue the calcium because egg development really zaps the
calcium stores absolutely.
I hope that she is doing well regardless of all of her laying. Is she eating much right now?
Post some pictures of her when you get a chance also.

Tracie

Sorry for the late response! She is doing okay. Eating her greens and dubia roaches until we ran out (more are coming soon, but we're buying her superworms today to supplement her with that). The only thing I'm a bit concerned about is that she has not pooped since laying eggs last Monday, one week ago. She usually poops about every other day. This morning she was crawling around looking like she was trying to poop, but couldn't. She has gone longer than this in the past without pooping (back when she was living with my family), but I really hope she isn't impacted.

Here are two pics I took last Monday after she had just laid her most recent batch. She's skinnier than usual in them and always has more trouble getting around (probably from lack of calcium). She looks and moves around a lot better now that it's been a week.

https://imgur.com/a/coT76mO
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Aw, what a cute face ! She does look thin but also alert which is good. :) Definitely keep up with the insect feedings and lots of greens, freshly washed + wet down. You can also give her some sweet potato + squash, microwave until soft + mushy and add a few drops of olive oil + water. That or applesauce can help her to poo.
 

moosix

New member
Dubia would be a great insect to switch too. Personally I use supers as a staple feeder for my adults, but they can be harder to digest than other insects. When a dragon isnt pooing regularly it's a good idea to stop with the tougher insects and switch to something easier. Dubias, silkworms, hornworms, butterworms, and BSFL are all great options you can try too.
 

lizdragon

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
AHBD":1emtq2bm said:
Aw, what a cute face ! She does look thin but also alert which is good. :) Definitely keep up with the insect feedings and lots of greens, freshly washed + wet down. You can also give her some sweet potato + squash, microwave until soft + mushy and add a few drops of olive oil + water. That or applesauce can help her to poo.

Thank you! You know, I have tried giving her sweet potato and squash before but she always refuses to eat it. She's a picky eater! I did give her some drops of olive oil with her greens and she eventually pooped a few days ago. She seems like she sort of needs to go again; she's been walking around lifting her tail up and I think she's trying to push. I'm not sure why she is having trouble all of a sudden. This hasn't really been an issue for about a year (which is when she moved in with me). I might try applesauce if it continues to be a problem.
 

lizdragon

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
moosix":gduurt7f said:
Dubia would be a great insect to switch too. Personally I use supers as a staple feeder for my adults, but they can be harder to digest than other insects. When a dragon isnt pooing regularly it's a good idea to stop with the tougher insects and switch to something easier. Dubias, silkworms, hornworms, butterworms, and BSFL are all great options you can try too.

Yes, she mostly eats dubias but we give her superworms once we've run out and are waiting for more to arrive. The only problem is that it gets pretty expensive to constantly order dubia roaches, what with shipping and everything. I know it's possible to breed them, but we live in such a small place we really have no room to do that unfortunately.
 

lizdragon

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Hey everyone, just an update.

First off, Liz is okay thankfully. No more eggs since my last post. Anyways, I'm really worried because I realized I have been using the wrong light fixture with UVB for months now. I had ordered the correct fixture and bulb (it was a 12% UVB T5 I believe) but must have been sent a different fixture without realizing it. When I just now received a new UVB bulb for her fixture and went to install it I saw that the fixture on her cage has two bulbs on it instead of one, and they're each 6% UVB. This was definitely not the fixture I had placed an order for! I have the email receipt to prove it. My fiance was the one who set it up so I didn't realize it was the wrong fixture at the time.

I don't really know what this fixture is meant for, but I think it might have been meant for chameleons based on some research I did on the website it's from. I just don't know what to do. I really hope she will be okay. Obviously I will be ordering the correct light fixture for her ASAP but I'm just so stressed out right now over this. I really feel really stupid for not taking a good look at the fixture until now.

Edit: I just spoke with the owner of the website, it turns out this fixture/bulb is okay. Phew!
 

CooperDragon

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The Arcadia 6% is lower output and usually for shade baskers. The T5 version is similar to a T8 in output so if it's sitting at about 6-8'' above the basking area it should be OK. The 12% and 6% bulbs can use the same fixture (usually) as long as the bulbs are the same length. The 12% bulb should sit about 12-14'' above the main basking area. The difference between the bulbs is output strength. The dual fixture allows you to have a wide spread of UVB using two UVB tubes, or you can use one UVB tube and then one daylight (6500k etc) bulb to increase visible light.
 

lizdragon

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
I'm sorry to resurrect this old thread. Liz has not laid any eggs since last fall,but she started showing signs of needing to lay another clutch yesterday. It's her usual signs (no appetite, restless, watery poops), but what I'm really concerned about is that starting today and maybe a bit yesterday she has constantly had her tail curled up and it looks like she needs to push. I'm really worried that she has an egg that is stuck. Does anyone know if this is somewhat normal for a bearded dragon who is laying eggs? I am praying she can lay her eggs tomorrow. I put her in her laybox starting yesterday and she wouldn't lay eggs, though it usually takes her a few days before she ends up laying them. Right now even as she is sleeping her tail is curled up. I'm really worried about her but also stressed because it would be a struggle getting her to the vet during this scary time (due to where I live and who I live with). If anyone has any guidance or advice, it would be much appreciated.
 

Drache613

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Moderator
Hello,

No problem at all. Sorry to hear Liz is giving you more worry again.
Is her beard dark right now?
That is very possible she is having a bit of trouble. Do you have her laybox nice & warmed
up for her also? You could try giving some coconut or olive oil, mixed with some sugar free
applesauce or canned pumpkin to try & help out. Is her vent swollen yet at all?
I can flag one of our members who has done a lot of breeding in the past, to see what she
thinks as well.

Tracie
 
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