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.

 

[StaceysBuddy]

I'm home, and Buddy is still alive! Yay! haha but seriously, she's fine. Had to pick up her tank a little bit, not quite to my standards but it's alright. Already got back into the normal schedule this morning, I think I caught her by surprise when I was the one feeding her this morning. Then she got a bath which she wasn't expecting!
I'm happy to know that Buddy will eat the vitamin stuff from my bf but not from me >.< At least she is eating it.

My bf said she wasn't eating as much but she ate just fine for me. Must be the timing of when we feed her.. I want to hang out with her all day but I gotta go to work. Ehh..

 

[sweetiepie9]

Glad you got thorugh your time away & that Miss Buddy was surprised to see you, you'll be giving cuddles when you get home from work, I'm sure!

 

[platinumtreasure]

Yayyyy! Good to here things went fine.

 

[StaceysBuddy]

I know that no one actually knows, but how many times can Buddy lay eggs in one summer? And is it just in summer?

She is looking mighty plump again in the belly...

 

[sweetiepie9]

It's hard to be sure. Sweetie started with 4 clutches every summer, by 2010 she was laying 8 clutches all year with 2 mo brumation from Sept/Nov. I have a friend who's beardie just laid her 5th clutch this year, only 3weeks between clutches, too. So very hard to tell. You'll know with the small urates, digging & glass dancing, same as before. And my best advice is lots of calcium before & after she lays. It got to the point with Sweetie that I wasn't giving her enough calcium, even though she got liquid calcium daily & multi-vitamins twice weekly, along with food, veggies. The biggest problem is keeping up with the calcium from the egg making. So good luck, hopefully she's just gaining weight :mrgreen:

 

[StaceysBuddy]

I just feel so bad for her. It's like a never ending cycle! (Even though it's only been twice I think it's going to happen again..)
I feed her constantly, lots of calcium. Then she stops. Lays eggs. Which I feel bad for her while she's laying them, all that effort and I just have to throw them away. Then she eats constantly again...
I won't mind if it's only summer but year round, Ah! I guess I will have to wait and see.

 

[sweetiepie9]

That's all you can do. I always hoped that Sweetie would just have a couple & then stop, so maybe this will be the last one. As long as she's healthy in between that's what counts. And don't forget, they're not mothers as cats are. If she had fertile eggs, you'd have to raise the babies & then sell them or give them away. It's us humans that have to do all the work after the laying, so better she's having infertiles.
Give her a hug for me & tell her that this should be it!
Deb

 

[platinumtreasure]

Gosh I see your post and guess so far I've been lucky Venus has yet to lay even 1 egg. I was thinking in regards to her age. I've been saying 15 months approx but when I got her last April the girl said she got her as a hatchling that past February. So that would actually make her 17 months if that is true. So then I suppose I am REALLY lucky or at least she has been so far.

 

[StaceysBuddy]

Can some female beardies not lay eggs then?
Without any help from a vet.

Just asking because maybe Venus just wont? Or maybe its a mistaken sex identity? Or age?
I can't remember if I was just talking to someone about it or read it somewhere about some female beardies not laying eggs ever...
I talk about beardies too much and sometimes get confused about what I read or thought... haha.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Yes, some females never lay eggs. I have a friend who had 2 males & a female & even though all three were in the same room (they couldn't see each other), the female never laid eggs. So it's not unknown. Hopefuly Venus is one of those females who never lay eggs.

 

[platinumtreasure]

Thank you telling me that! I had read that sometimes they don't but had not seen anyone say that in fact their female had never laid eggs.

This is such an intriguing subject. I wonder why it is that some do and some don't? I mean I would imagine it has to do with hormones being activated in some way. I get why it happens when there is a male around and in view. So why is it that some female dragon who aren't in the presence of a male do lay eggs and some don't? I know this might sound crazy but I wonder if possibly for those who do lay eggs without a male around or at least one that they see, do they possibly see their own reflection at some point and mistake it for a male causing hormones to flow? :?

 

[jewl495]

Sending hugs to both you and buddy! Hopefully this isn't really a stressful thing for her. My goodness Deb, sweetie laid eight clutches? I sure hope Buddy doesnt produce that many....fingers crossed she will get a break for the rest of the yr.

 

[StaceysBuddy]

Let's hope that Venus is just a lucky non-prego beardie! I'm going to have to look up more about this 'beardie that doesn't lay eggs'.. gotta be some science behind it or something..
Figures that I would end up with a beardie that's never seen another one, and lays eggs. Maybe it was her reflection? Or maybe it was me calling her a boy for almost a year and her getting sick of it and proving me wrong... haha! :wink:
But I guess I don't mind too much that she's one that lays eggs.. It was new and exciting for me. Even cute to watch her be so careful with them. The glass dancing does get old, always nervous she is going to hurt herself. As long as she is okay, I guess I'm okay with it.
She's only laid 2 clutches so far, so lets hope that 3 times is the charm!
Yeah.. 3 times.. because she seems to be following the pattern again. She refused to eat a second time yesterday and didn't eat for me today. She seems more hyper when I let her out, and she doesn't want to be held for long (I got marks on my arm to prove it!) She's beem roaming around the house like a madman!
No glass dancing or small poops but I believe it's coming. I bet this week or next week she will have another clutch.

Thanks again, for all the help and support. Buddy and I really appreciate it. Makes internet surfing for infomation a lot easier!

 

[sweetiepie9]

Nope I think it's all hormones. Sweetie was a single beardie when she started to lay eggs, never set eyes on another beardies, and I have alot of friends whose beardies are single females & lay eggs, so I think it's all hormones. Seems to come on after brumation & spring fever, which makes sense as that's when beardies breed in the wild. Just those wild hormones kicking in!

 

[platinumtreasure]

There was time I thought for sure Venus was ready to lay eggs so I had my hubby rush out and get play sand but she suddenly stopped the glass dancing and started eating again. I could have swore she even looked lumpy but I read that with infertile eggs you really don't see lumps and cna't feel them too well. I had a post under the ER section where she got realllyyyy sick one time. Her tail and black turneed black and stayed that way for a more than a week. She also had been spitting up. At first I thought she was impacted but then I remember a period before that were my daughter said she only had urate come out and when she finally went there was a little pink tinge in the urate. She suddenly got better a week later. Still didn't eat for another week though so I just kept soakng and misting her. That was almost more than a month ago and I always wonder if she did in fact have eggs and some reabsorbed but one may have burst inside. I guess I will never know.

This was venus when that all happened....I was so worried.

Excuse the dirty tank glass in the picture below but I didn't want to stress her at the time anymore then she already was.

And this is Venus now. Hard to believe it's the same beautiful girl isn't it!