Beardie not eaten for weeks and possibly pregnant

[ReIgN]

Hi guys long time no speak, maybe should have spoken up sooner but have put this down to all sorts of things up till now. I have two bearded dragons one male and one female, they used to live together but have since been put in seperate vivariums. the female first started to not eat when she was in with the male but she would have days where she would eat an awful lot then not again for a few days.

About 5 weeks ago they mated (I'd hoped to split them up before this happened but nature beat me) I split them up that same week, Lenny the male went back to his old self straight away, I guessed that Missy would be stressed out so kind of left her alone in her new home apart from feeding and bathing and changing her greens. She continued to have her eating and non eating days but more often than not she would spend most of the day curled up under her flannel in the back corner of the warm end of the viv where she would stay until morning when she would get up for a warm on her rock. I thought this may have been brumation, she's not losing any weight but I have no idea if she's gravid or not, she doesn't appear to have got any bigger and being so new to that side of things I'm really not sure what to look for although she's digging quite a bit, not all the time but a fair bit.

The last few days she's been up and about most of the day, only going to bed about an hour before lights out which for her seems to be fairly normal but she's still not eating. I really am at a loss she won't even eat a wax worm so am now very concerned even though she looks happy and healthy.

The beardies are in two identical vivs 3'x18"x18" they both have reptisun 10's her's is only a month old. They have white 100w basking lamps with a basking temp of around 100 to 105 cool end is around 80 (with the constantly changing weather in England it's hard to keep a constant temperature so I err in the cautious side as I don't want them to cook) night time temps are controlled by the same habistat and they never go below 60 at night. They have a ceramic heat emitter for night time heating. they are both on wood chips for substrate (I've never had a problem with this and although I don't think it's an impaction I'm open to suggestion) the male is about 17" long and missy is around 15" she hasn't shed in a long time now must be three months, I didn't have her from a baby she came to me around 5 months old and she was happy and healthy but in my naivety I housed them together which seemed fine for a while but seemed to do nothing but stress her out.

Hopefully someone can help I'm pretty much lost for ideas now.

Thanks in advance...

Matt

 

[Drache613]

Hello Matt,

How old is your female? When do you think they might have mated?
You wont probably be able to tell if she is gravid or not until later on in the pregnancy phase. She should be eating alot at first, but towards the end of the gestastion period she wont eat much as the eggs fill up most of the coelomic cavity. Most of the time you can see eggs in the final week or few days leading up to them laying.
Do you have a laybox for her?

Tracie

 

[ReIgN]

Hi drache, thanks for the response, she's a little young at only around 10 months I think. It was my own fault for keeping them together and I feel really guilty. They mated around 4-5 weeks ago it was on a sunday, happened twice once my girlfriend saw and once I saw, we split them up the week after, I've put a lay box made from a lunch box in the corner of the viv its full of soil as it was best I could find till I get to the reptile shop today, I've built it up all round so she can get to it and have used some cork bark as a screen to help her hide. She was digging frantically yesterday afternoon so am pretty sure she'll be laying soon then hopefully life can get back to normal. I feel terribly guilty and can't believe I was so naive as to think they wouldn't mate before they were old enough.

Thanks again for your response, will keep this thread updated as things happen, apologies for it being in the wrong forum but wasn't actually sure till I started to read more about her condition.

 

[ReIgN]

Just a little update, Little Miss layed 17 eggs yesterday at around 4pm. She's now eating again and her eggs are tucked away in a seperate viv in some moist vermiculite... fingers crossed for 17 healthy mini dragons

 

[LJean]

How is Missy doing? 10 months is awfully young for egg laying. Glad to hear she is eating again.

I don 't know anything about taking care of eggs, but sure hope to see some pictures of those babies when they come.

 

[ReIgN]

She's doing really well now, very perky and back to the little dragon we bought at the end of last year particularly as she's in her own pad now. Yes very young for egg laying I feel really bad for her and vow to make up for it by keeping her well away from Lenny till she's a lot older and wiser.

 

[LJean]

Spoil her well and she will forgive you. I think there is special care to give after an egg laying (or before, LOL) Hopefully someone who knows more there can help.

 

[Pleaides]

hello
also yes too young for breeding but still congrats on lil eggs, lets hope they hatch ok.
ok now the main thing i now about breeding is shes going to need extra calcium as she would have used an awful lot for the eggs and if she starts lacking in calcium you may end up with some mdb issues (i think), not sure how often the calcium should be given though, think it may be 5-6x a week.
i hope someone else comes along and lets you know for certain how often it should be given, and yes plenty of TLC for the mummy! lots of yummy greens. oh also i think you have to ease them back into live food but really not sure about this so you may even want to PM a moderator to get a proper answer.
sorry if i dont help all that much. i wish you all the best!
oh and i live in england too, you dont need to moan about the forever rapid changing weather here, blasted uk, lol.
oh and pictures when they do hatch.