Buddy... is not a boy, she's a momma! 3 times now *Pics*

So Buddy is almost a year now (from when I got HER from petsmart). Thought she was a boy because I self examined her and she got those pore things around her vent. Today Buddy decided to lay an egg! (infertile)
Buddy has been SOO active for the last couple days or maybe over a week.. thought "he" was going through an adolence phase. Guess not...

Is there anything I should be doing for her while she is going through this?

I provided a sandbox for her (which she is making a mess!!)

How long will this last, and is it every year?
Any tips will be very appreciated. I'm also going to do some research. Wasn't expecting this at all..

Thanks.

 

[Esther19]

My Buddy turned out to be a girl, too. :wink: I have seen other people in your situation advised to check out the breeding section on this forum for information. I do know that you should feed her as much as she wants and give her extra calcium.

 

[kFitz]

Her laybox needs to be made of a substrate that has some structure that she can dig in. I use a mixture of sand and topsoil and moisten it. Make sure it's at least 6 inches deep. My girl has laid 2 clutches so far this year. Some just lay one clutch and their done, some lay a clutch every year, and some lay multiple clutches in a year. Like mentioned before, go to the breeders section - there is a really good article on laying eggs. Since they're infertile, you can just ignore all the stuff about incubation. Make sure you give her lots of warm soaks to stay hydrated and up the calcium dusting and protein while she's in her laying mode and for a little bit after as they are using tons of energy to produce and then lay those eggs. Good luck!
-Kelly
p.s. when I rescued Frank, I was told she was a he too!

 

[StaceysBuddy]

Well that article helped a lot. I went out and bought another tote so I can fill it with sand. (play sand is all it said.. ) I'm going to put a light on it for her when she's in there. But I work all this week so I can only have her in there after 4pm. But she is most active in the morning/early afternoon. I hope she still digs in it.
Yesterday she only laid one egg (that I know of).
Today, so far, she isn't as active but it's still early. I won't know until I get home from work and that's when I'm making the sandbox. The container I used is only like 3 inches deep and a foot long.. thought it would work but she made a mess and dug all of the sand out of it and into her tank. RIGHT after I cleaned it out! >.<

But the temps and everything are the same, yes?
Just keep giving her food with extra calcium and bugs when she eats them.
She was eating really good for a while, but just a day or two, she stopped.
(She wasn't eating any worms/roaches, but she was having greens everyday)

 

[kFitz]

Yes, keep the temps the same. I went and bought a rubbermaid bin that's about 2 feet high for her laybox. That way, when she digs, not too much flies out. The substrate needs to be able to maintain the hole she'll dig. Using just sand will cave in on her when she goes to lay. Brandon on this site suggested when you wet down the substrate, use hot water so the bin is already warm when you put her in there, and then have the light on top.

As for her losing her appetite, that usually means she'll lay in the next few days. They stop eating and their poop becomes smaller and smaller right before they lay. Good luck with it! It sounds like you're doing a great job so far!

For some inspiration:
Action shot of the digging!

And one dirty dragon

Let us know how it goes!
-Kelly

 

[StaceysBuddy]

Cute pictures! (I have some I will post soon)

So far Buddy has laid 4 in total, that I can find anyway. My boyfriend made her a sandbox. She is digging away in the corner. I have the light on it but it's not too warm in there. 76* last time I checked. I moved the light closer.
Should I bathe her every night? Is it okay to disturb her while she's digging?

I seen her back legs, sure enough her "hips" are getting smaller. =[
I hope she is okay through this and afterwards. I'm excited and scared at the same time!

 

[StaceysBuddy]

She just turned around from digging and is laying eggs (I think, I see butt movement lol)

Ahh!!!
:lol:

 

[kFitz]

yay! I just left my girl alone for a few hours. when she's done laying, make sure to let her completely cover the eggs up. it's cute. she'll use her front feed and face to pack the sand down. If you don't let her finish doing that, she may be antsy once back in her tank, like she's trying to finish the job. Can't wait to see pictures!

 

[StaceysBuddy]

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^^ Not sure if that will work or not. (*Darn. How can I get a video from facebook on here??*)

Buddy had her first actually batch of eggs. I don't know how many, she wouldn't let me look. She buried them right after. I seen a bunch though.
You're right, it was very cute to watch her "clean up".

But in the video, it shows her breathing really hard. Is that normal? She did that a lot afterwards. Looks like she was pushing down.. like contractions.
I got more videos and pictures!! Figured I'd better get my questions outta the way first.

 

[kFitz]

I would be breathing pretty hard too if I just laid a bunch of eggs! The heavy breathing should slow down in a bit. As for the contractions, were they happening after she was back in the tank? Or before she buried the eggs? I'm not sure what that could mean if they keep up. Maybe there could be another egg in there, especially if it was a big clutch. If the contractions stop, I would assume they were just to settle down and contact her uterus (or wherever they store the eggs. I know mammals are uteruses, not sure about reptiles). The video didn't work. I'm not sure if you can post them on here. Most people post then to youtube and then just post th link on here.

 

[StaceysBuddy]

This is what I seen when I got home from work.

She looks worn out.

Started digging it back up.

Started head butting it to pack it in.

I got more. Trying to figure out videos.. o.0

She was just breathing like that when she was done and covering them back up. She's fine now. Back in her regular tank, basking. Breathing normal. =]

 

[XtinaBeardieMom]

Make sure to give her extra calcium (preferably liquid) and lots of fluids and extra long soaks. Also, flush her eyes out with a sterile eye wash or saline solution... very important as they're very likely to get a bunch of dirt in their eyes while doing all that digging, don't want it to get infected. Is she eating well now? If you want, you should PM Deb (sweetiepie9) because she's dealt with a lot of this & knows what to do. Good luck with your girl, keep us updated

 

[jewl495]

How stinking cute is that! BUT I'm so glad I have boys...I would be so worried if I had a girl laying eggs. Glad that's all done and she's nice and comfy in her tank.

Julie

 

[Esther19]

What a good little mama she is. And so pretty! Wish I had looked that good after giving birth!

 

[sweetiepie9]

Glad to hear that Buddy is done with her eggs, but it may not be the last clutch. When my Sweetie (we also thought she was a he until she laid an egg in her tank!) started laying, she was laying 4 clutches every summer. So the first thing is, as mentioned previously, to give her daily soaks for at least 20 min, as she used up alot of energy & you want to make sure she's getting lots of water. Liquid calcium is also something I gave Sweetie every day, as it takes lots of calcium to make up those eggs. You want to make sure she eats LOTS of protein, that's to make up for protein lost from making the yolks (yes, each egg is filled with bright orange yolk, I cut an egg up out of curiosity). So lots of bugs, with lots of calcium, that's really important. Lots of greens, too. What type of UVB are you using? If you're using a tube (Reptisun 10.0 or Arcadia) then powder calcium is important as it has Vit D3 added. If you're using a mercury vapour bulb, like Power Sun, Mega-ray, or something like that, then the calcium doesn't have to have Vit D3. Greens are really important too. I always used liquid calcium but as I use Power Suns, it wasn't important for the D3. You might want to discuss the calcium use with Tracie (Drache613), she helped me dose Sweetie when I used the liquid calcium.

She doesn't look as if she lost tons of weight, but you want her to gain more than she was previously, as I"m sure she'll do this again before summer is done. I'm glad you got her a laybox, but you can help her tamp down the eggs, if you want, that's what my hubby used to do, as it takes so much of their energy to do that & it has to be perfectly done. It's all instinctual. And you can throw the eggs away, as once she's done, she's done. She won't try to find them or anything like that. Just dig them up & throw them in the garbage. You can freeze them first if you want. But don't keep them in the laybox, as they'll rot pretty fast.

I'm glad she's basking now, she'll need to warm up. Don't forget it's as hard as human labour & she'll have pushed out about 30 or so eggs, so imagine, each egg is a contraction! So that's a real lot of work. Glad she got through it fine.

Any other questions, don't hesitate to ask. Sweetie lay eggs for 3 1/2 years before she passed away (pneumonia) last December. Now I have 5 adult males left, don't need to worry about eggs anymore, but I sure miss my girl.
Deb