Unexpected Grandpa!

[TJinPgh]

Ok, so I get up to go to work today to find out why Gertrude has been acting so odd the last several days. I walk into the room to find her laying the 3rd of 3 eggs.

My first reaction was WTF is that! Keep in mind that I've never had reptiles before and I have begun treating Gertie for parasites!

After I had a moment to think about it, I realized what they were.

Now, you can imagine my surprise since I just had her in for a checkup 2 weeks ago and one of the questions I had asked was if she was pregnant since she was an adult when I bought her and she was kept in a tank with a male.

As an aside, should I be concerned that he didn't know she was expecting with e eggs 2 weeks ago or is that something that is reasonably missed?

At any rate, her vet isn't in today so I'm somewhat at a loss on how to proceed.

Here is what I have done so far. I took the eggs, rinsed them off in warm water (they needed it) and placed them in a small container with moist paper towels. I then put the container back in the tank in an area that is about 85 degrees.

So, at this point, I have a number of questions. Please keep in mind that I'm late for work and haven't had time to research this in the forums so, please, don't flame me for not searching. I just haven't had time.

1) Where do I go from here? A friend of mine knows people who have bred them and he is getting in touch with them to see if they want the eggs. I also contacted a local pet store that handles them (looking for advice, mostly). The associate who has bred beardies wasn't there today either. I will be contacting him tomorrow.

2) I have been treating her for pinworms. Is there any risk that the eggs have been infected? Anything to be concerned about there?

3) Any special care that Gertie needs at this point? Food, nutrients, other?

4) Best way to deal with the eggs if I can't find somebody locally who wants them? I don't have the means to care for them and I don't want to exterminate them!

5) What kind of time frame am I dealing with... how long do I have to do various things and how long does it take them to hatch?

BTW, I live in Pittsburgh, PA. So, if somebody is interested in the eggs feel free to let me know!

Any other information I need to know at this point.

I will try to post a picture of the eggs later. But, the quick search I did says that these eggs do not look like the infertile ones I saw in one post. So, I am assuming they are fertile.

Again, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[TJinPgh]

Quick update. One of our local chains, Total Pet, said that they will take the eggs. They apparently already have a breeder doing some for them so they'll likely send them there.

That's good news, at least.

 

[Jiffy]

Hi.
Sorry, but I dont know about eggs or beardies laying them, so I cant be of help, but wanted to say I know (from reading from others) that they need more calcium after laying eggs. And she needs food and to be kept hydrated.

 

[TJinPgh]

Thanks.

I spray her greens with a calcium spray several times a week (every other day) and dust her crickets with powder once or twice a week as well (I've been cutting way back on her crickets to try to get her to eat more greens).

So, I figure she's getting enough but if she needs more I can spray her greens every day.

I'll make sure to spray her down through out the week to keep her hydrated as well. Normally I just give her a bath once a week and spray her with water from a spray bottle somewhere around mid week but I can do that more often as well if she needs it.

 

[TJinPgh]

I came home last night to find that she had laid three more. Two of which she laid directly under her basking lamp. The other was off to the side a bit but still in the warm end of the tank. No telling how long they had been there as I was gone about 12 hours.

The two had yellowed substantially. The other not quite as much but still not white like the original three.

I took all six to the pet store where they put them in the incubator. I hope at least some of them will hatch into healthy beardies.

 

[TJinPgh]

Round 2 was yesterday.

This time there were 16!

I was a little better prepared this time around. She began fasting on Friday. I figured at that point she was a few days off. She was running around her tank a good bit on Saturday so I figured it was time to prepare a laybox.

I had some 21 gallon totes laying around so I figured that would be big enough. Put play sand in which came up just shy of about a foot deep. Picked up a heating pad to put under neath.

I was trying to get out of her tank on Sunday so I put her in the laybox. She was none too pleased about it. Black bearded up. All huffy so I put her back in her tank.

Monday she seemed restless but calmer than the day before. Tuesday she started digging again so I put her back in the lay box. Puffed up again, briefly, but then calmed down a bit.

I left her alone for a while. When I checked on her again she was digging in the sand so I figured that was a good sign. A couple of hours worth of digging later she'd stopped. When I checked on her her backside was down in the how she'd dug and I could see some eggs underneath.

Not sure how long, in all, it took her to lay them all. It was later in the afternoon when I removed her from the lay box and excavated the eggs from the sand. They were all nice and white. I left a little bit of sand in with them in the container so they'd stay moist and took them down to the pet store for incubation.

They had transfered the previous six to a 3rd party breeder so they weren't sure of their status.

So far as I know, this is her second clutch. I say that since she was clearly pregnant when I bought her. I don't know if she'd laid any prior my buying her and the shop I bought her from probably wouldn't remember at this point, anyway.

She spent the rest of yesterday and today just resting on her log. We'll have to see if she has any more.

I know some lay eggs even if they aren't fertile. Is that the type of thing that will continue to happen every 3 or so weeks or will it become far less frequent once she's finally done with this mating?