infertile eggs?? My girl is digging until she bleeds. HELP!

[kFitz]

I didn't know which section to stick this in, so ...

A few days ago, Frank started digging around like crazy, turning her cage upside down. She won't eat and spend her entire day digging in the corners of the cage. usually she'll wall dance, but now it's head on the tile, trying to dig down. I have a lay box with wet sand, but she wants nothing to do with it. How long should I keep her in it anyway? Also, today i noticed the nails on her right front and rear foot are completely worn down and a toe on her front foot is completely gone and the pad is scabbed over. I looked on the tile where she was digging and there is a little blood line left.

She has gained a bunch of weight and sometimes does this little wiggle with her back legs to move instead of walking, almost like she is too heavy for her hind legs to support, but then she just gets up and walks no problem a bit later.

Anyway, I have no idea what to do. I'm not sure how old she is. I got her almost 2 years ago and she was already 18" living in a 2'x2' cage on walnut shells. She is now in her "mansion" as my dad calls it. 4'x2'x2' front sliding cage on tile, good temps, Reptisun 10.0. If anyone has any advice on what to do, I'd appreciate it, and if this post belongs somewhere else, let me know. I'm almost afraid to put her back into her tank now in fear that she'll tear up more of her toe pads, so she'll be held while i'm studying tonight.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....how big is your lay box ? It should be pretty big + deep, also it should be reasonably warm. You can use a plastic storage tote that's at least 2 feet high, and fill with about 10 -12" of sand. If you pile it to one side and start a tunnel for her, she should go right for it. Her feet should be O.K.,but leave her in the lay box for several hours at a time so she doesn't scrape them up anymore. Keep it warm enough , and offer her water by spray bottle or a quick bath.

 

[kFitz]

the lay box i was using was an old 10 gallon tank. i'm off to the store to get a bigger bin and more substrate. i'll attach a light to it to make it warmer. thank you for the advice! she seems happy to be hanging out with me all afternoon, except she seems to think my neck is a good place to try to burrow into

 

[AHBD]

Hopefully that will do the trick. When you make up this new box, add warm water [ not hot ] so the substrate starts off warm right away .

 

[kFitz]

ok, new problem! lol. she got in her lay box and 2 hours later, she's started laying!!! So far, only two eggs out. she's pushing a lot and nothing is coming out. I was an animal science major, and we always helped the cows/goats/sheep/horses out when they couldn't get the babies out. What should i do here? Sit back and watch? How many eggs do you think she'll have? this is her first clutch. Full of newbie questions and a little late asking them I guess!

 

[AHBD]

No help needed, she should push them all out herself. Just check on her from time to time, it can take over an hour once they start, and with really large clutches [ over 30] can take even longer. If this is her first, the number of eggs may be in the teens or possibly 20's. She'll come out + cover them when she's done. Let her cover them herself because if you take her out and stick her in her tank without letting her cover them, she may wander around her tank and scratch away [ thinking she still has to finish her job ] and hurt her feet more. Be sure to give a nice lukewarm bath after, and she may want to eat right away.

 

[kFitz]

Again, thank you so much for your help! I'll post pictures when she's done! And to think the people I rescued her from thought she was a he! (which is why her name is Frank)

 

[AHBD]

Your'e welcome. Has she laid more since the first two ? I should add that if she only laid 2 and continued to visibly strain for a long time with nothing else coming out, she would need to see a vet, but that's if she really was straining and unable to pass them, but that's not really common.

 

[kFitz]

she's at about 8 or so. I've left her alone to do her think, but she's just been sitting there over the eggs for about an hour or so. I moved the light closer to heat her up a bit more thinking that would help, but I can't tell if she's done or just tired... we'll see.

 

[kFitz]

Now that Frank had her bath and is nice and cozy in her tank...

I thought she laid about 10 eggs, but after digging them up and counting them, she laid a total of 26! Not to bad for 4 her first go.
She dug one hole that became an 8" long tunnel first. I thought it might collapse, so I pulled her out, packed the soil back down, and made her start over.

About 30 minutes later she started laying!

Again, 26 in all! Do you think some of them are a bit yellow due to not enough calcium in her diet, or is that normal for infertile eggs?

Thank you again for all the help and advice!

 

[AHBD]

Well, that's a good size for a first clutch. Make sure to feed her pretty much all she wants now, and be generous with the calcium powder. I wanted to mention that you might let her feet soak in a mild betadine solution [ diluted to look like weak tea ] to help her feet a bit. Give her a regular bath first, minus the betadine ] in case she drinks in the first bath, and then do the betadine bath for her feet, being sure she doesn't drink from IT. You can also apply a little neosporin on them for a while. It will get messy in the tank on the tile though, so you might want to put down a layer of newspaper while you treat her feet.

 

[kcarello]

I am so happy to see that I am not the only one going through this right now!!! Glad yours made it through all this, I am still waiting for Puff to lay her eggs, if she is even going to!

 

[kFitz]

good luck to puff! If my girl got through it, I know yours will! Make sure the lay box is nice and toasty though. I think mine got too cool, so she took a nap between laying and covering the eggs up, but once I moved the light closer, she got back to it!

 

[kcarello]

So Frankie layer her eggs the first time you put her in the lay box?

 

[Flynnthedragon]

congrats on the eggs Glad she is finally done with that and he poor lil feets can heal ^.^