1yr old beardie just laid first infertile egg

[SentientRoomba]

So I've been expecting sunny to start laying infertile eggs since she is a little over a year old, last night she laid one and she has been really hesitant to eat anything the whole day and now I know why. She wont even eat her favorites, like dubias, and I know I need to get some extra calcium in her but im honestly unsure what to do since its like pulling teeth to get her to eat. I'm not sure if she'll lay anymore since this is her first. I live in a small town that doesn't have many petstores and the ones we do have are either exclusively cat and dog or farm supply (Cow/horse/pig/chicken etc..). So I have to wait till the third for my delivery of nesting material (ecoearth) and I'm wondering if there's any in alternatives that I could throw together real quick for her to dig in, she's not really displaying any digging/nesting behaviors at the moment but I want to be prepared when she does again. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Badwolfe]

just mix some good quality topsoil with some sand and a bit of clay if you can get some. You want it moist enough to clump up and hold a shape when you squeeze a ball in your hand but not wet that it leaks water. Get a plastic box with a lid and cut an access hole in the side of it. Put this in the viv - your female should go in to lay if she needs to. You don't want her retaining eggs because she can't find a suitable spot to lay

 

[SentientRoomba]

Alright! Would aquarium sand work fine since thats all I have on hand for that at the moment, or does it have to be a special type of sand? I probably should've prepared better in hindsight

 

[Badwolfe]

childrens play sand would be the best and can normally be obtained from numerous sources. Avoid calci-sand if possible because dragons have been known to ingest it.

 

[SentientRoomba]

I set her lay box up with playsand and topsoil, she is glass surfing and when I let her out she'll show some digging behavior on the carpet and starts to run around crazy so I put her in the laybox that's in her enclosure she just surfs ontop of the bedding in there until she finds the exit then continues to glass surf, when i gently feel her belly I can't feel anything, is it common for them to lay just one egg and still display these behaviors also she still wont touch her bugs. Should I be a little worried?

 

[Badwolfe]

its possible she may have only produced one but keep a careful eye on her. She may produce more now

 

[AHBD]

Can you post a good pic of your laybox ? You want the substrate to be deep, about 7-10" at least and if you start a tunnel by hand and put a lid over it she may accept it as a good laying site. Their instinct is to try to be hidden , as if they are laying eggs in a safe place like in the wild.

 

[SentientRoomba]

Unfortunately I don't have a working camera right now, but the lay box in her enclosure is a rubbermaid tote and the substrate is around 5 and a half inches deep, I'll add a lot more substrate inside of it and make a tunnel and see if that encourages her. I'll work on getting a picture

 

[AHBD]

Did you get a chance to make changes to the laybox? How is your girl doing ?

 

[SentientRoomba]

Oh sorry for the late reply, life has been busy! I made the substrate deeper and she has been exploring it but not digging but she is in it often now, another good thing is that she is eating again and acting like her normal self