Reabsorbing eggs?

[catwu20]

Hello everyone,

Here's my beardie Ginger's (Female, 2 yrs old) journey with her first clutch of eggs. I am essentially worried if she is healthy and reabsorbing eggs is possible?

Around a year ago (July 2020), she started presenting behaviors that made me suspect she was gravid. She was digging in the backyard, and darting from room to room. I took her to the vet and she did an x-ray. Lo and behold she was gravid, and the x-ray showed she had 15-30 eggs in her belly. We brought her home and presented her with lay boxes, but she never dug and always tried to climb out. Vet gave her 2 oxytocin shots, and she still never showed any laying behavior. Vet suspected she was trying to reabsorb the eggs, so we just decided to observe her.

A year passed and this issue was regrettably forgotten by me. She always stayed alert and playful, her appetite was good and pooping regularly. I remembered her egg situation a month ago and decided to take her to a new vet. The vet allowed us to look at the x-rays and they showed she still had eggs:

Above view: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1doBQRnjOTlLHKf5QdoCeu858a6JNW-Qt/view?usp=sharing
Side view: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HtAygMdPBApiOFjvL2M9T-ifSn1WVXQC/view?usp=sharing

This vet also suspected she was trying to absorb the eggs. The eggs are still soft and a shell hasn't formed yet. The vet left me with the same advice: to keep observing for changes in energy and diet. We are still looking.

I'm a little anxious about everything and would like to know - how easy is reabsorbing eggs? I know it's possible, but is it something probable and pain-free? I'm afraid it's an uncomfortable process for Ginger and it might result in complications. Also, what are things I could do to make this process easier for Ginger? What are some warning signs something is wrong? And finally - how will I know when the eggs are 100% absorbed?

Thank you all!

 

[AHBD]

Hi there,, it may be that she's coincidentally developing eggs to lay just now and these may develop and she may lay. Make sure that her calcium intake and uvb exposure is good. If she doesn't lay them within 3-4 weeks it would be best to get another Xray. It's really good that you've been proactive and are keeping up with where she is in this process. If she ever became frantic and then suddenly VERY lethargic, possibly with black beard that would probably be an emergency if she were eggbound. It may be somewhat expensive but that's the only thing you can do, to regularly get the xray done to see what's going on. I don't know how often eggs of that size are reabsorbed though. I hope all goes well !