I hope i'm not too late (female dragon egg laying)

[zye1984]

I haven't really thought about my beardie needing to lay infertile eggs until now. She's a little over a year now, and i haven't really had a place for her to dig. She's been digging a little here and there though, but usually she's just trying to curl up and nap from what i could tell. I'm going to get a bin and get some sand this morning and put her in there, probably outside to keep from having to get more light fixtures and things. (though she seems kind of uncomfortable outside for some strange reason, she will NOT move around on the ground and just watches everything. in a tall bin though it may not be a problem since she won't be able to see people walking around)

I wonder if this is why she's bitchy all the time? She doesn't flare or beard or make it black really, but she could really care less about me. She tends to make complaining noises when i pick her up even with the gentlest of care. (think huffs and chuffs, like a spoiled brat not getting his/her way) She doesn't try to get away in a frightened manner or anything, but she really has no desire for any sort of strokes and will NEVER come toward me under any circumstance.

I hope i'm not too late. Would the vet know if she had eggs with just a poo sample? I just did one of those a couple weeks ago.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....no , your vet can't tell by a poo sample, and many vets, unless they deal with beardies on a regular basis can't tell at all. Only if the eggs are formed and developed in size will they show on an X-ray. But making the lay bin is the right thing to do. Put about 10" of damp sand in it and pile some up on one side so you can manually dig a tunnel for her. For more info on egg laying, there's a thread at the top of the page in the breeding forum here with lots of info.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

She may have eggs, but it's hard to tell if she is just developing them right now.
Has she been pretty restless or just a little digging? I agree, making the laybox would be helpful for her in case she needs to lay.
Doing x-rays would help determine if she has eggs or not right now.
Is she eating anything?

Tracie

 

[zye1984]

Hi there....no , your vet can't tell by a poo sample, and many vets, unless they deal with beardies on a regular basis can't tell at all. Only if the eggs are formed and developed in size will they show on an X-ray. But making the lay bin is the right thing to do. Put about 10" of damp sand in it and pile some up on one side so you can manually dig a tunnel for her. For more info on egg laying, there's a thread at the top of the page in the breeding forum here with lots of info.

I tried to dampen the sand but i'm afraid of putting too much in there. x-x I actually saw the thread via google right before getting the items i needed. Speaking of which, dragging a 100+lb of sand in a bin a long way to get to your apartment and UP THE STAIRS is not fun. Then i broke the lid from puncturing it too hard with a screw driver for air holes. I eventually just brought it inside and used my enclosure's wire mesh top and set the lights on it...it doesn't close off the top well, but she doesn't look interested in getting out.

 

[zye1984]

Hello,

She may have eggs, but it's hard to tell if she is just developing them right now.
Has she been pretty restless or just a little digging? I agree, making the laybox would be helpful for her in case she needs to lay.
Doing x-rays would help determine if she has eggs or not right now.
Is she eating anything?

Tracie

She's been fat for a long while now, but i though that was from her eating too much crickets. In her normal enclosure, she's pretty lax, though she look uncomfortable..always having stress marks on her belly and darker scales than what she is when she's out of it. She's ALWAYS been that way though in there. Curiously, she's quite content in the bin filled with sand and is lightly colored!
She would dig a teeny bit in her normal enclosure (or under my sheets when about to nap with me) but that's usually before napping.

However, in the new bin she was digging FOR HOURS. I eventually made a sand cave though i'm not sure if it was big enough. She first started digging on top of it (x-x) so i picked her up and put her in front of it. She was like "NO I DUN WANNA" until i pushed her head down in it and then she was like "AAAA--oh. oh okay. Dat's cool, thanks. *DIG DIG DIG DIG*" After burrowing for a while (and making a hole in the burrow on the side of the bin) she turned around and relaxed, and eventually slept there.

She eats bugs quite readily. Greens, she generally only nibbles on right when she wakes up, and MAYBE a little during the day.

 

[zye1984]

aaaaand i put way too much water in the sand bin. I knew i would. now i have to wait a week or whatever for it to evaporate...

 

[SDragon]

Can you get more sand, if you think she needs to lay then I wouldn't wait a week.

 

[zye1984]

Can you get more sand, if you think she needs to lay then I wouldn't wait a week.

I was exaggerating a bit there. I have 100 lb of sand in there already, and i have both the light and heat emitter on the water-sand tonight. I'm not so sure she is going to though, as i cannot feel any sort of nubs that would resemble eggs in her belly. I'll try to go to the vet tomorrow if he's not on fricken vacation again.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

How is she doing today, has she been digging still or not?
Let us know if you did end up taking her to the vets & what they said.
Many times you wont know they have eggs until right before they lay them because they are very hard to feel & see.

Tracie

 

[zye1984]

unfortunately she has nothing to dig at the moment, and both heat sources are on the sand bin to dry out the water...She's just chillaxin' as per usual.

I didn't get to go to the vet yesterday, so i have to wait till monday.

 

[SDragon]

Sand is a pain to dry in large quantities. You might get more luck decanting it into smaller amounts and putting it in sunlight etc.

Leaving her with neither heat or a lay box is not good if you are worried about her being gravid.

 

[zye1984]

you're right, i put back the heat lamps and elevated the sandbox to one side. i also got out a lot of water with a strainer, measuring cup and two things to hold what i dug out. hopefully this will get it set by tomorrow.

and i'm sorta half worried about the eggs now. the only thing that remotely makes me think she needs to is her digging and a distended belly, the belly she's had for a long time since she used to get too many crickets for a while. I'm still going to try to go to the vet tomorrow...it's hard since i work nights and i'm pretty tired when i get home, and have lately been depressed.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

How is your girl doing now, is she trying to dig at all or not really?
Is her belly still pretty round also?
Were you able to get her to the vets & if so, what did they say, was an x-ray done on her?
I hope that she is doing better right now. Let us know how she is doing.
I hope you are not having as much trouble now either. It is difficult working nights & to still be able to get things done.

Tracie

 

[zye1984]

The vet is more worried over her trichanomas. (he did not feel any eggs, just kidneys) Apparently that came back with a vengeance. She seems ok though. I misunderstood the vet and gave her 2mL of her meds instead of 0.2, twice. She constantly digs in her sand bin where i made a "cave." She doesn't come out very much, but is alert generally. She didn't want crickets yesterday.

Which reminds me, i get her food at the same place, and they have not had any body tell them about their lizard having trich, so i do not know how she keeps getting it.

 

[zye1984]

Izzy was crazy today.

The meds for the trichanomas is VERY BITTER, enough so that she thrashed her head around after giving it to her and black-bearded. So i decided to dilute it, and got a Peaches N' Silk (peaches, strawberries, bananas) smoothie (0.2mL meds, 0.8mL smoothie) from Tropical Cafe to mix it with along with a vitamin-c supplement add on in it. It's still bitter, but it's not as bad. Afterwards she was all over the sides of her enclosure, even getting on her hind legs and stuff which she never does. i put her in her newly remodeled sand bin and she seemed to calm down a little, but she didn't want to dig or go in her "cave" which was odd.

If you want, you can move this to general discussion since this isn't all that much of a emergency anymore.