Egg bound.??

[acidburn01]

Dreki has been acting like she's gonna lay another clutch. Digging, scratching to get out, not eating, pacing, etc. this will be her 4th one since like December. she laid an egg this morning in her dig box but only one, I checked her tank and sifted through the sand real well. And usually, she lays her eggs, looses a lot of weight at once and then is exhausted for a day or two but she's still scratching and pacing and digging and hasn't lost any weight. Could she be egg bound.? Here is a photo of the egg and a photo of her. Should we take her to the vet.? Usually, when she lays her eggs, she does them all at once and maybe a stray one the next day.

She is dirty looking because she digs literally all day and basically buries herself.

 

[AHBD]

Is her laybox in her tank or separate ? She may be ready to lay more today so see if that happens. If not you could opt for a vet visit and ask for a shot of Oxytocin that should induce the egg laying.

BTW how much and what does she usually eat ? She looks just a bit on the thin side. Being lean is generally better than being too fat though, even for egg laying. An obese dragon carries fat in the abdomenal cavity that can crowd the eggs and make it harder to breath and to push the eggs out.

 

[acidburn01]

Is her laybox in her tank or separate ? She may be ready to lay more today so see if that happens. If not you could opt for a vet visit and ask for a shot of Oxytocin that should induce the egg laying.

BTW how much and what does she usually eat ? She looks just a bit on the thin side. Being lean is generally better than being too fat though, even for egg laying. An obese dragon carries fat in the abdomenal cavity that can crowd the eggs and make it harder to breath and to push the eggs out.

Her dig box is in her tank, she uses it so much when she's gravid, we just kept it in there. She's always been slender. When she is gravid, she's 600-something grams, once she lays, she drops to 450ish, give or take a little. I haven't weighed her this go round but she feels and looks the same as the other times she has eggs, so I'm guessing anywhere between 550 and 650g. Is it normal for them to only lay one egg.? She is still incessantly digging in her box, which isn't normal for her after she lays eggs. How long is okay to wait before going to the vet.? She laid the one egg around 9:30ish and it's 12:40 and nothing else. I mean, what are the odds of being bound after having three other very successful lays.? Would she still be acting her normal self if she were egg bound.? I'm so damn paranoid that she's egg bound and will end up not making it or anything.

 

[AHBD]

It can be normal for 1 egg to slip out while they're still digging, mine have done that before. I think she's just going with her instinct to dig more and will probably lay them sometime today. If she at any point becomes very lethargic, black beard then get her to a vet ASAP but I doubt that will happen.

 

[acidburn01]

It can be normal for 1 egg to slip out while they're still digging, mine have done that before. I think she's just going with her instinct to dig more and will probably lay them sometime today. If she at any point becomes very lethargic, black beard then get her to a vet ASAP but I doubt that will happen.

Okay, I'll keep an eye on her. She's still acting like she has been while gravid, no lethargy or dragging back legs or anything like that so hopefully that's the case and she pops them out before long..

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I agree, they do tend to lay an egg or two sometimes before laying the primary clutch. Since she is
still digging a lot, that is a good sign. She will most likely go ahead & lay pretty soon. As AHBD says
just keep an eye on her. If she starts to black beard, become lethargic, etc then definitely call the vet
to get her in.
Be sure to get extra calcium into her also, in case she needs a boost from laying the other clutches.
It's hard not to worry about them becoming egg bound, because it does happen unfortunately!
She looks good weight wise, so no worries there.

Tracie

 

[acidburn01]

Hello,

I agree, they do tend to lay an egg or two sometimes before laying the primary clutch. Since she is
still digging a lot, that is a good sign. She will most likely go ahead & lay pretty soon. As AHBD says
just keep an eye on her. If she starts to black beard, become lethargic, etc then definitely call the vet
to get her in.
Be sure to get extra calcium into her also, in case she needs a boost from laying the other clutches.
It's hard not to worry about them becoming egg bound, because it does happen unfortunately!
She looks good weight wise, so no worries there.

Tracie

It's hard to get extra calcium in her because she doesn't eat during this time. But she does eat a ton after she lays. She's still scratching a ton and digging so I guess we'll just keep an eye on her and hope for the best. Man they stress me out

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Will she take some fluids at all? You can give a
liquid calcium for her or mix a bit of calcium powder
up with some water if needed.
They definitely do keep us on our toes with worry.

Tracie

 

[acidburn01]

Hello,

Will she take some fluids at all? You can give a
liquid calcium for her or mix a bit of calcium powder
up with some water if needed.
They definitely do keep us on our toes with worry.

Tracie

Not really. We got a little water fountain for them and she drank a little bit not much. I think she still eats a little bit of her salad so I put calcium on it but not a lot.

She's still digging and pacing and stuff so I'm hoping she lays them soon so I can stop worrying.

 

[AHBD]

It sounds like she's working on it, should be any time now.

 

[acidburn01]

It sounds like she's working on it, should be any time now.

Nothing yet today, still digging and scratching though. Is there a time frame as to when I should get her checked, even if she isn't showing of those symptoms.?

 

[AHBD]

How many days has it been ? I've had a female do the heavy digging for a week before she laid. I f she hasn't laid in 5-6 days of heavy digging it might be best to have her get a shot of Oxytocin.

 

[acidburn01]

How many days has it been ? I've had a female do the heavy digging for a week before she laid. I f she hasn't laid in 5-6 days of heavy digging it might be best to have her get a shot of Oxytocin.

Well, she digs like crazy for a solid twoish weeks before laying but she's done that every single clutch in the past. According to her last two lays, she laid Februarys on the 12th, then marchs on the 16th so based on that, she should lay anytime now.

She lays, then sleeps for like a day then for about two weeks, she eats a ton and acts normal then by the two ish week mark, she stars digging and will dig the remainder two to two and a half weeks before laying again. And the whole process is just under a month and a half, like 5ish weeks from the starting of her digging to her laying the eggs. If that makes any since. There aren't any egg bound symptoms, she's just digging away all day.

 

[AHBD]

Is that her lay box ? If so you can add a lot more substrate. Mix sand + plain topsoil and put a cover on it with one corner cut out as an entrance. She might lay more readily then.

 

[acidburn01]

Is that her lay box ? If so you can add a lot more substrate. Mix sand + plain topsoil and put a cover on it with one corner cut out as an entrance. She might lay more readily then.

She's got several inches of sand in it, it's just that she pushes it all to one side when she digs. We tried to cover one part of it but she didn't like it and wouldn't really get in it. She digs and digs but once she lays it's outside the box, somewhere in her tank.