HELP: Rescues Laying Eggs and another plays dead?

[rkdkp]

Hi! I have rescued 8 Beardies this last week, 2 of which are ready to lay eggs. We haven't had this experience yet and haven't even done the research on it, as our pet dragons are all too young to breed.

Here are the questions I have:

1 - They have a slight head vibration... Every once in a while, her head will vibrate. Nothing like a seizure or anything, but just like a vibration. It lasts for about 15 seconds and then she stops for a little bit. Not sure what this is... The person that we rescued her from said she had laid 3 eggs yesterday and when we looked, the eggs were all crushed. I don't know if being in labor has anything to do with it or not, just concerned about it.

2 - The other one is also very moody today. Doesn 't want to be touched and seems cranky even when just putting our hand in the cage to pet her. Does that mean that she should lay soon?

3 - We gave the boy a bath a couple days ago and then dried him off, put him back under his heat light. He threw up and then it looked like he died. He stopped breathing and when we picked him up, he was limp. He wasn't breathing and my husband could just touch his eyeball. We turned him on his back and he just laid there. I started massaging/pumping his chest and rubbing him to stimulate him while I was on the phone with our experts at the rep store. He said that we shouldn't count any reptile as being dead, sometimes they play dead, and just then, FatHead started breathing again and has been fine since. We are now scared to give him another bath... Have you heard of this before? Are we ok to give him another bath?

4 - We are taking all of the eggs to our local reptile store for them to incubate and hatch, but I want to make sure I don't do any harm to them before-hand. How and what should we do with them if they lay before we can get them to the reptile store? One of the people that we rescued these guys from gave us a tub of what looks like mulch and soil mixed together. We thought we would just put the eggs in there until we can get them to the store. Is that ok? Do we need to do anything special?

Thanks for your help!

Kim

 

[dreshany]

I am in no way an expert on beardies and egg laying and have never actually experienced this, my beardie is still to young. I have read a few posts about it though. Can you please go over your husbandry and cage set ups? Are they all housed together? what is their substrate?

1 - They have a slight head vibration... Every once in a while, her head will vibrate. Nothing like a seizure or anything, but just like a vibration. It lasts for about 15 seconds and then she stops for a little bit. Not sure what this is... The person that we rescued her from said she had laid 3 eggs yesterday and when we looked, the eggs were all crushed. I don't know if being in labor has anything to do with it or not, just concerned about it.
I have read that when females lay eggs it can deplete their body of calcium. Are you supplementing with multivitamins and calcium? If so, what are you using?

2 - The other one is also very moody today. Doesn 't want to be touched and seems cranky even when just putting our hand in the cage to pet her. Does that mean that she should lay soon?
it's possible that this could be signs of relocation stress. It can take some time for bearies to adjust to a new environment. I would go over your husbandry to make sure everything is ok.

3 - We gave the boy a bath a couple days ago and then dried him off, put him back under his heat light. He threw up and then it looked like he died. He stopped breathing and when we picked him up, he was limp. He wasn't breathing and my husband could just touch his eyeball. We turned him on his back and he just laid there. I started massaging/pumping his chest and rubbing him to stimulate him while I was on the phone with our experts at the rep store. He said that we shouldn't count any reptile as being dead, sometimes they play dead, and just then, FatHead started breathing again and has been fine since. We are now scared to give him another bath... Have you heard of this before? Are we ok to give him another bath?
My beardie did this a few times when he was really ill. I assumed it was because the bath just exhausted him. He would close his eyes, layed flat against my hand and didn't move. After about 15 minutes he would pick himself back up like there was no problem. My beardie also does this when I syringe feed him because it is stressful and just wears him out.

4 - We are taking all of the eggs to our local reptile store for them to incubate and hatch, but I want to make sure I don't do any harm to them before-hand. How and what should we do with them if they lay before we can get them to the reptile store?
I am sorry I don't have much advice on this, hopefully someone else will be able to post what to do. I do know that they need to be kept warm, but I do not know the correct temps.

One of the people that we rescued these guys from gave us a tub of what looks like mulch and soil mixed together. We thought we would just put the eggs in there until we can get them to the store. Is that ok? Do we need to do anything special?
That box with the dirt is the lay box. Beardies like to dig and bury their eggs when they lay. You should place the females in that box when you think they are ready to lay. She may show signs by digging or scratching around in her viv.

I am sure someone will post soon who is more knowledgeable. good luck!

 

[rkdkp]

In order:

1. We just picked her up last night. The lady we got her from was only feeding her about 10 crickets every few days... Last night, she ate a couple superworms and about 10 crickets (dusted with the multi and calcium). This morning, she ate another 6 crickets. We didn't want to over-feed her right away. She has laid another egg today. Currently, she is in her own cage (20 gal I think?) with a ZooMed Power Sun bulb. The substrate is sand. This is all we had as she didn't come with her previous cage. She was on mulch with a heat light and the slimline UV... Certainly not the proper UV lighting.

She did lay another egg about 4 hours ago in her viv. I had my daughter move the egg into a small lay box we created and had her put on a ceramic heat emitter on the opposite end of the box until I can get home.

2. She has been fine before, we have been able to handle her, hold her, give her a bath, etc. She was moody last night. My daughter is home with her now and says she is fine being petted again. We have moved her into the lay box, just in case. Don't know if we should move her back to her viv or not. She is housed with 2 males, one of which is the dad. THE MALES DO NOT FIGHT! They are in a 125 gal tank with multiple UV and heat lights, keeping it the right temps and the substrate is sand. These guys are soooo fat. The only thing they have ever been fed are Superworms. We are trying to get them to eat crickets, but they aren't eating yet. The guy at the rep store said that because of the relocating stress, it might take them another week to get adjusted and eat.

3. So, should we try another bath? Or give it another week or so to let him get used to his new surroundings?

4. My husband decided that we would keep the eggs and try to incubate and hatch them ourselves. We were given an incubator, not sure if it works. Hubby is going to get it on his his lunch and see what he can do to fix it if it doesn't work.

Thank you!!!

 

[Thor's Mom]

I don't have much to add. No experience with breeding, but wanted to note that you had better watch your temps awful close in the 20 gallon tank with the PowerSun bulb. That is an MVB, which is good, but they get quite hot and also they are supposed to be at least 12-14 inches away from your dragon. Do you know what the dimensions of your tank are? I know my 20 long was 36x12x12, which is much too shallow and small for an MVB.

Oh, and please watch those males closely and be careful. It doesn't matter that they don't fight now, they could EASILY snap for no apparent reason and end up hurting or even killing eachother. Just because it has not happened yet, does not mean it won't and that is exactly why you will never find a good quality breeder that houses their males together.

Edited to say: Welcome to the board!

 

[rkdkp]

Thanks for responding. I think her tank is a little bigger than that, so maybe it's a 30 gallon? I don't know. I do know that we are going to be moving her today and trying to get everyone rearranged so they all can work together. We started out with 2 Juvs, about 6 months old, in a 55 gal cage and 2 babies about 4 months old, in a 40 gal cage and 1 baby about 6 weeks old, in a 10 gal cage, as our pets. All housed according to their size and we are thinking each are m/f, except for the little one, which we are hoping is a little girl.

We rescued 3 adults (2m/1f) and 2 juvs (1m/1f) from a guy that couldn't afford them any longer, but were in awesome shape, just a little cold as he only kept his house at 55 degrees and the lights not on very much. He had them housed according to age, with the big ones in a 125 gal cage, and the little ones in the cage that opens in the front.

Then, we rescued 2 more, both f, about 5 years old and got an 80 gal cage with them. These two are in HORRIBLE shape. I don't know if one of them is going to live. She has MBD, and is jaudiced really bad, to the point where even her tongue is yellow. We gave her to a friend so we each had 1 dragon to help heal. The other one may have a little MBD, but not nearly as bad and is just a little jaundiced. The person that we rescued these two from never gave them any UVB and only fed them about 20 crickets 2 times a week. When I called to give her an update, her response was, "Oh, that's too bad. It was neglect, what else can I say." I wasn't a happy camper needless to say, but anyway, I put the one that I kept in the 80 gal cage to quarantine her to see if I can help heal her. The night we picked them up, she ate a couple superworms, a couple pinky mice, and some crickets, the poor thing was starving! So, we are hoping to fatten her up and get her jaundice healed and find her a forever home.

Last night, we rescued this girl. She is probably about 1 1/2? She's not as big as the other adults, but pretty close. She is a very deep red. Very, very pretty. She seems to be in pretty good health. There were 3 eggs in her cage that were smashed and discolored. She had laid them the day before yesterday. She did not come with her cage, so she got put in the next biggest one that we had. Once I know that she is done laying eggs, I am going to put her in with the other 3 adults that we rescued last week, until we can find a new home for the sick one.

 

[K9KidsLove]

Hi...Congrats on the new family members. That is a lot to handle all at once.

Re: eggs...with a #2 pencil that is slightly dulled, place a mark on the top of the eggs as they are laid & don't turn them. It will disrupt the yolk & kill the baby. I use small plastic storage containers...8" x 12" x 2" half full with damp perlite (it doesn't take much water to make it damp...not dripping). I mix it in a margarine bowl then pour it in. I make an indentation for each egg with my finger in the perlite & set the the egg in it so it won't roll. I put a few small air holes ( I use a drill) in the lid. Keep the incubator 82-86. Keep the reservoirs full of water or set a dish of water in it to keep the humidity high. I use an AccuRite thermometer with the probe to keep temps as close to 85 as I can.
Good luck
Patsy