Scared my beardie is egg bound

Status
Not open for further replies.

lizdragon

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
I feel like her beard color is sort of going back and forth all day, unless my eyes are tricking me. This is what it looks like right now. I feel like it looks slightly dark, but not too dark? Idk. Also I'm a little nervous because she didn't want her veggies today, though some days she's just picky. She's getting a bath right now.

full


Edit: Never mind, she ate veggies after getting out of the bath! Lately she's been eating in the afternoon, whereas she used to like to eat in the mornings. Sorry for all the edits. I know, I'm the worst :lol:
 

lizdragon

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
So much has happened while writing this post that I’ve had to delete everything and start over multiple times! Anyways, Liz’s beard had been looking okay, maybe slightly dark, and then a few minutes ago my husband called me in a panic to tell me it turned jet black. He was considering taking her to the animal ER, but luckily a few minutes later she did a big poop. He told me her urate, while white, was very hard, almost like a rock. He said her beard went back to normal.

We are really hoping the reason for her dark beard was because she was constipated. We also noticed a few spikes on her beard are shedding. Her temperatures and humidity level have been fine.

Does anyone hsve any advice on how to prevent this constipation in the future? Right now we feed her collard greens and sometimes bok choy every day and then superworms as well every other day. We dust about half of them with calcium dust (with D3), though after she’s laid we might dust most or all of the worms. Usually she gets somewhere from 5-7 worms every other day. Is there anything in her diet we should change? Liz has MBD and has been constipated many times in her life, so we want to know if there’s anything we can do better. Thank you all so much for your help.
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
I would offer some really hydrating food like squash (cut up into little worm shapes helps get attention) and drip some water on her nose so she can lick it up and get extra hydration. That should help out the most.
 

lizdragon

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Ok, thank you. I do the water thing but I've never given her squash like that before. Should that be something I should give her always or just something for now to help hydrate her after her hard urate?

We got worried because two days later her beard got dark again, but then she did another big poop and it went back to normal. Poor girl must have been very backed up. Luckily with that poop her urate was normal and not hard.
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
It kind of depends on if she likes it or not. My guy pretty much only eats squash (loves it). Others may not like it. Worth trying out, but it does make a good, hydrating staple to offer. I cut it up like this:

76248-9983280538.jpg
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

How is your girl doing? Is she eating much right now, it sounds like she may have been a
bit dehydrated but definitely isn't impacted!
Her beard isn't black at all? I hope she likes the squash, most tend to like a variety of the
squash. Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie
 

lizdragon

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Thank you Tracie and CooperDragon! Yes, I think she may have been dehydrated. I didn’t think so because she would always drink water in the bath and water drops on her food, I’m hoping the squash will help. I've still been giving it to her pureed for now, but I want to try it the way you suggested CooperDragon! She may like it in that shape since she definitely gets more excited by worms than veggies :? .

No more dark beard thankfully. She’s had maybe 4 large poops in the past week, which is a lot for her! Her appetite had been great up until yesterday, when she refused her veggies and only would eat worms. Then today she laid two eggs at 6am in the morning. What’s weird is that she hasn’t shown signs of laying yet other than decrease in appetite. She had a large poop this morning, whereas when she has eggs she normally has tiny poops. And she’s not super active yet, but I’m guessing that will pick up in the next day or so. Not thrilled that she’s on her third clutch this year. I’m hoping this doesn’t go all summer long. I will be having my own baby this August so I’m hoping she is done by then because I will be a bit more busy! She always requires more care and supervision when she’s in egg mode.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

That is great to hear she has been eating well & become more hydrated. So, she did lay
a couple of eggs, bless her. Maybe she wont lay too many this time. She sure has been
laying a lot, so I'm sure that it wearing her out.
Be sure to keep her calcium levels up as much as you can, in case she does lay more.
Hopefully her appetite will pick back up again.
Definitely, between her care & your new baby, you wont have a minute for your self!
Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie
 

lizdragon

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Drache613":61zupd2b said:
Hello,

That is great to hear she has been eating well & become more hydrated. So, she did lay
a couple of eggs, bless her. Maybe she wont lay too many this time. She sure has been
laying a lot, so I'm sure that it wearing her out.
Be sure to keep her calcium levels up as much as you can, in case she does lay more.
Hopefully her appetite will pick back up again.
Definitely, between her care & your new baby, you wont have a minute for your self!
Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie

Yep, more eggs! Though these are a new clutch I believe. Just like last time, she started showing signs of laying exactly 2.5 weeks after her last clutch. She's laid 4 eggs so far, all in her tank in the morning before we wake up.
She won't touch her veggies when she has eggs but she will have a few worms, we make sure to dust them to give her the calcium she needs. Hopefully she can get all these eggs out soon and be done with laying for the year! I'm thankful that by the time my baby arrives her egg laying season should be over. Timed that perfectly! :lol:

Edit: Shortly after I wrote this comment, Liz started laying in her lay box. She laid 16 eggs today, so 20 total in this clutch. It's possible she may have another egg or two left but hopefully she'll be able to get that out today or tomorrow. I'm so happy she was able to lay so quickly this time!
 

lizdragon

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
We're getting a little worried because even though she was able to lay all those eggs today, it kind of seems like she is still trying to push. Or at least my husband thinks so. We put her back in her lay box and she wouldn't lay any more, and now she's just in her cage. She ate a couple of worms and right now she's just resting but awake. I'm not sure what to do if she still has more eggs or how we can know for sure if she does. I'm hoping maybe she'll just lay it in her cage tomorrow morning like she did after her last clutch.

Is it possible for one egg to be stuck? :|
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Poor girl, at least she is laying them now. Does she seem to be in distress, with a black
beard?
It is possible that she could have an egg stuck, but hopefully not. Sometimes, their muscles
still continue to contract for awhile even after they are done laying. If she continues to try &
push & starts to signal she is in distress then a vet visit might be needed. You could try & put
her in a warm bath to let her swim around some. That can sometimes help with laying, by them
moving around a little bit.

Let us know how she is doing!
Tracie
 

lizdragon

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Drache613":1jsbifc5 said:
Hello,

Poor girl, at least she is laying them now. Does she seem to be in distress, with a black
beard?
It is possible that she could have an egg stuck, but hopefully not. Sometimes, their muscles
still continue to contract for awhile even after they are done laying. If she continues to try &
push & starts to signal she is in distress then a vet visit might be needed. You could try & put
her in a warm bath to let her swim around some. That can sometimes help with laying, by them
moving around a little bit.

Let us know how she is doing!
Tracie

Thanks for the response! No black beard as of now, thankfully. Early this morning before her lights turned on she was walking around and scratching at the sides of her tank. We went to put her in her lay box but she sort of just stopped and went back to sleep. Since then she hasn't really been as restless or scratching around, but it's only been a few hours. We also gave her some greens and she took a bite, which she really only does after she's done laying (I've never once see her eat veggies while she has eggs), but it was just one bite so I'm not sure if it means anything. Luckily she doesn't seem in distress or lethargic, she's actually super awake and alert right now. I think we'll try putting her back in her lay box in a little bit.
 

lizdragon

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
So just an update to my post before. Liz never laid any other eggs, but she also stopped showing signs of wanting to lay. I hope I'm not naive in thinking everything might be okay. She's been acting totally normal, and had a huge appetite the past two days. A little tired sometimes, but she's usually like that after laying a large amount of eggs. She's mostly been pretty alert. No black beard either. She's starting to shed on her eyes, beard, and head so it would be nice if she's done with eggs for now.
 

lizdragon

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
I'm sorry to post again on this thread, I'm just a little concerned because today we noticed Liz's back leg twitching. Up until today Liz had been doing really well and we weren't sure if she might have another clutch to lay or not. This morning she crawled out of bed early which is something she usually does when she has eggs, and then when I went up to her I noticed her back leg twitching. Since she has MBD I have noticed this twitching before, however since she moved in with us and we gave her the proper diet and setup I haven't noticed it. The only time I saw her back leg twitch was when her doctor had given her a dose of pitocin to help her lay eggs a few months ago. I'm really worried about her now..I'm also annoyed because my husband told me he has only been dusting calcium on two of her worms at each bug meal (which is every other day) which is not enough. I think this is because she was constipated recently and he was scared of giving her too much. I read that since she's an adult we should be dusting them 3 times a week..does that mean 3 times a week all the superworms at her meal should be dusted? We give her around 7 superworms every other day.

Also, does anyone have any advice about the twitching? I'm very worried. Could this be related to her potentially having more eggs? Thank you in advance.
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
The twitching could just be a muscle spasm, or it could be something more - it's tough to say for sure. For my adult, I usually give a light even coat of calcium to every bug meal. Bugs are only offered once or twice a week though. Primary diet is veges - especially squash like I mentioned earlier. You can offer dark green leaves like collards or turnip greens which are naturally rich in calcium and vitamins. In this case it may be a good idea to add a bit of extra calcium. Perhaps look into a liquid calcium supplement at least for a little while. Have you had any luck with squash? That and dripping water on her nose to lick up are the best things I can think of to offer hydration.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Members online

Still Needs Help

Latest resources

Latest posts

Latest profile posts

What is a quick way to warm up a cold beardie? His heating element went out overnight and now he's very cold.
Pearl Girl wrote on moorelori1966's profile.
i feel so sad reading your about me 😢
Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

Things to do:
Buy calcium powder
Material to raise surface for basking spot
Scenery decals for back of tank
Taking my beardie for a walk

Forum statistics

Threads
155,854
Messages
1,255,170
Members
75,936
Latest member
KarmaChild99
Top Bottom