Digging in dish?

[4b4the22]

I have this rock water dish for my beardie (4y/o Female). She's never drank out of it (I've never had her drink at all in the 4 years I've had her and have been just giving her vegetables still slightly wet and bathing her weekly to make sure she stays hydrated) and because she doesn't drink out of it, I usually just let the water in it evaporate to hydrate her so it gets empty from time to time. Three days ago she woke up in her usual spot and ran over to the dish which had apparently fully evaporated overnight and just sat down in it.

At first I thought it was cute, she likes to curl up in the dish on occasion and it makes her look very cozy. I've taken her out of it a couple of times over the last couple of days to feed her or let her run around but for some reason she keeps going back into the dish. She's been sitting in it for 3 days now and this morning shes been digging at the base of it. Does anyone know why this might be?

Additional information: she had a serious liver problem 3 years ago and was given a calcium injection by the vet and laid unfertilized eggs soon after. Since then I've had no health problems with her, she has a lot of energy, huge appetite (crickets, collard, and a few blueberries as a treat, all dusted with calcium and occaisonally multivitamin), and her pooping schedule has been regular for her. It's gotten colder recently (I'm in Canada) so I sometimes turn on a larger heat lamp for a few hours a day to keep the tank within a healthy temperature range. She seems to hate this lamp so I only turn it on as long as I have to to keep the tank warm but I originally thought she was running into the dish to hide from it, which doesn't seem to be the case since she's been in there even if keep the light off.

I'm worried this behavior may indicate shes laying again, as the last time she laid the vet instructed me to give her dirt or sand to lay in and I do not have any at my house and cannot get some because the garden stores and pet stores are closed for the COVID lockdown. It could also be just brumation since the temperature has gotten colder in the last week.

If anyone has any ideas about what this might mean or recommendations of what I should do if she's laying again, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

 

[CooperDragon]

It's hard to say if it's egg laying behavior or not. Usually I would suggest making a dig box for her, but since that is not possible at the moment, try using some other materials that you may have on hand. Fleece works really well. You can pile fleece scraps or layer a fleece blanket for her to burrow in. The fleece won't get caught up in her nails and is nice and soft. If you have something along that line available, then I'd give it a try and see how she responds.