Strange Infertile Egg Situation-7 year old dragon

[jkatzenfutter]

Hello,

My name is Julia and I used to post a few years ago about my bearded dragon, Pat, when I first got her. I've had her since she was a baby and is currently 7 years old. Every summer since she was an adult, she would lay infertile eggs (she is my only beardie and has never been in contact with other bearded dragons). However, this year, I moved to a different state and this summer, she has held onto her eggs. I found a few dropped around the cool side of the enclosure, but she stopped once I introduced the lay box.

I've took her to the vet because I was concerned about egg binding. In the first x ray, we saw a few eggs and they looked like they were ready to be laid. He gave her a calcium supplement and an injection to help with uterine contractions. She became much more active, and was running around/glass dancing, ect but no digging! During this time, she seems hungry, but can't catch the crickets (which is extremely weird). I took her back to the vet this morning, and the vet said he had never seen anything like it before. We also took another xray and now there are no eggs...I checked the lay box and there was nothing...

I'm concerned that the eggs could have been reabsorbed into her body, but wouldn't she have died/lost weight/have become sicker? Besides the fact that she can't catch the crickets, she is still showing signs of being hungry and is alert and perky as usual. Has anyone seen this before? My vet is reaching out to other vets in the area but is otherwise puzzled.

Thanks for reading!
-Julia

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....how well did you check the laybox ? I've had females that will dig way into the farthest corner and just cram them in there. So double check all the way down in the corners and look through the entire lay box, they may just be scattered randomly.....so check with a fine tooth comb. It's really not possible for quick reabsorption of large eggs

 

[jkatzenfutter]

hmm, I felt like I went through it pretty well...I did it by hand though, so is it possible that they could have been crushed or something? My vet is pretty confused about the situation.

 

[Esther19]

Recently I took in a rescue that showed many eggs on x-ray. She never dug around, either in her lay box or anywhere else. Concerned about egg binding, I took her back in. My vet said that she has resorbed the eggs. She is acting fine. Unlike yours, however, she did not lay a partial clutch before resorbing. Could she have laid more outside her cage while on a walkabout, perhaps?

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

How is your girl doing, did you ever find any eggs at all?
Has she maintained her appetite?
You had mentioned she was having trouble catching her crickets, can she walk, run or climb normally?

Are you using a good UVB light too along with calcium also?
I think she most likely reabsorbed the eggs but that was pretty fast, but it does happen.
I hope she is doing well. Let us know how she is.

Tracie

 

[jkatzenfutter]

Hey everyone,

Thanks for all of your responses. She is in a 75 gallon terrarium, and I have thoroughly checked everything and I can't find any eggs. I use a reptisun 10 uvb light, though I think it's in need of changing soon. Her appetite has remained the same, but she is still having trouble catching crickets. I took a video of it (it's really weird) but I have no idea how to upload it on here. If anyone knows how, I would be happy to upload it to show you all.

 

[jkatzenfutter]

Hello,

How is your girl doing, did you ever find any eggs at all?
Has she maintained her appetite?
You had mentioned she was having trouble catching her crickets, can she walk, run or climb normally?

Are you using a good UVB light too along with calcium also?
I think she most likely reabsorbed the eggs but that was pretty fast, but it does happen.
I hope she is doing well. Let us know how she is.

Tracie

She is able to walk, run, and climb normally. It almost looks like she's having trouble seeing the crickets or something. She gets excited about them, then cocks her head weirdly to the side, sticks her tongue out, and completely misses.
Also, what happens to them when they do reabsorb the eggs? I'm having trouble finding any info about it on line.

 

[AHBD]

I don't know how to post a video, so I'm no help there ! I'm sure some of the other posters can help you ! I'm just wondering though if you could possibly put up a picture of the X-ray showing the eggs in the oviduct ready to be laid.? I'm pretty sure that only egg follicles can be reabsorbed, not fully shelled eggs that are in the oviduct. There would have to be some strange mechanism to facilitate reabsorption of eggs with shells. I'm not trying to stir anything up....just would like to know how this is possible.

 

[jkatzenfutter]

I don't know how to post a video, so I'm no help there ! I'm sure some of the other posters can help you ! I'm just wondering though if you could possibly put up a picture of the X-ray showing the eggs in the oviduct ready to be laid.? I'm pretty sure that only egg follicles can be reabsorbed, not fully shelled eggs that are in the oviduct. There would have to be some strange mechanism to facilitate reabsorption of eggs with shells. I'm not trying to stir anything up....just would like to know how this is possible.

unfortunately, I dont have the xrays-they were digital and were shown to me on the computer. I heard that about fully shelled eggs too, and that's why I'm so confused.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

The eggs must not have been fully shelled if in fact she did reabsorb them. Is he sure they were fully shelled?
Normally if they do reabsorb them, they may show some lethargic behavior or a lack of appetite due to the influx of fat breakdown of the follicles in the liver.
Did she show any slow down at all in her appetite, or not?

Tracie

 

[jkatzenfutter]

Hello,

The eggs must not have been fully shelled if in fact she did reabsorb them. Is he sure they were fully shelled?
Normally if they do reabsorb them, they may show some lethargic behavior or a lack of appetite due to the influx of fat breakdown of the follicles in the liver.
Did she show any slow down at all in her appetite, or not?

Tracie

He didn't mention if they seemed to be fully shelled or not, so I guess it's possible that they weren't fully shelled. He appetite has slowed a bit-she didn't seem to want any crickets yesterday. Is this life threatening?

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

When they reabsorb eggs it isn't life threatening, or shouldn't be. Egg binding is though, but if she isn't egg bound then she may just not be too hungry.
You could give some bee pollen to help with her appetite, too. Is she eating any greens right now?

Tracie

 

[jkatzenfutter]

Hello,

When they reabsorb eggs it isn't life threatening, or shouldn't be. Egg binding is though, but if she isn't egg bound then she may just not be too hungry.
You could give some bee pollen to help with her appetite, too. Is she eating any greens right now?

Tracie

She didn't eat anything yesterday, BUT, she started digging like crazy and made a huge hole yesterday. I'm going to check in a little bit to see if anything happened. This has been one hell of an egg laying season lol

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Well, now that is interesting. She has dug a hole now? I guess time will tell what is going on.
Maybe she just took awhile to shell them which normally is a 4-6 week time period.
I hope that she does lay then so she wont have any trouble with egg binding, etc. Let us know how she is doing.


Tracie

 

[AHBD]

Oh yes, that may be the direction that she's heading....just possibly getting ready to lay. I hope she [ and you ] get some relief soon !