What can I do? My female BD is laying too many clutches!

[carmallarm]

My 1-2 year old female BD, Sunny, has laid 4-5 infertile clutches (I lost count of exactly how many) in the past 2 months. She has been separated from any male BDs since September of last year, so I'm not sure why she keeps laying clutches of infertile eggs. I've been regularly dusting her food with calcium powder, but I'm still worried that she'll develop MBD from repeatedly laying clutches of ~20 eggs every 2-3 weeks.

I remember seeing on some Animal Planet show how this one female iguana had something called over-active ovary something-or-other, and was wondering if Sunny could have this, too. I don't think it's normal for a female BD to lay so many clutches, especially when she's not being bred. Does anyone on this forum have any ideas as to what might be going on with Sunny?

If I can't figure out what's going on, and she lays another clutch in the next few weeks, I'll probably have to bring her to the vet to have her spayed. This option might end up being necessary, but it would be costly for me and traumatic for Sunny, so I'd rather see if there's something else I could do to keep her from laying so often.

 

[Camel413]

My female dragon was a year old when I bought her. After a month she laid an infertile clutch. About a month later she acted real restless and started head bobbing at me and my wife. At this time she was also black beard for most of the day. I talked to Tracie about it and she had a few suggestions, one being see a vet.

I finally took her to the vet and he told me I had 3 options: Take her home and she will probably live a few months then die. Option 2: put her to sleep or option 3: have her spayed. He said that she had an over active ovary and it is fairly common in reptiles. He said that he would not even attempt to just remove the eggs with out spaying her also. He said that if he removed the eggs it would just happen again.

This vet is a really good vet, he is also the vet for a big local zoo. His prices dont seem real bad for being a specialist either. I think with the visit, surgery and meds it was about $160.

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Some beardies go through a cycle of laying infertile eggs!!! It is not uncommon its just some are worse than others! Let her body run the cycle!! Or if you are that worried I would take her to the vet!! But make sure you up her calcium, vitamins and make sure she has the proper lighting and temps are good!!!! Just my 2cents... Any more questions just ask..........





Lance

 

[carmallarm]

Lance: How many clutches can be expected from a "normal" cycle?

Camel413: I looked up over-active ovaries in reptiles on Google, and got one hit on a scientific paper, but nothing else. I guess there's not much literature out on this topic yet. I called my vet yesterday to ask about options, but they were busy with another patient, so I'm expecting a call back today. $160 for the surgery and meds doesn't sound bad at all, but I have a feeling it's going to be more expensive here. I'll keep you posted. :-/

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Well one of my females already layed about 9 clutches ranging 18-28 infertiles!! After that she was ok but now and then she lays 1-2 clutches!!!

 

[carmallarm]

9 clutches!! Oh, my god. That's a lot of eggs! I hope it doesn't get that far with Sunny.

My vet just called me back, and these were his suggestions:
* Decrease the lighting to 10hrs/day
* Don't feed her 1-2 days/week
* Rearrange her cage
Stressing her out a little might help disrupt the egg-laying cycle because stress hormones interfere with the reproductive hormones. My vet said that some lizards just like to lay a lot of eggs, but that they can also be induced into laying eggs by the sight or presence of a male lizard or when their bodies are in optimal condition.

Sunny is almost 2 years old, and she's pretty slim for a Beardie. If she was a human female, I'd say that she'd probably weigh about 120 pounds. Not anorexic, but could stand to gain some muscle and fat. I'm going to keep feeding her the same way as I have been so far (kale, Dubias, mealworms, and the occasional wax worm) with plenty of calcium supplements, but I will not feed her 1 or 2 days/week. I'll also rearrange her cage and decrease her lighting cycle. She's only seen Draco (from a distance, outside her cage) 2-3 times since last year, but I'll make sure that she doesn't see him at all for a while. Hopefully this will work...

Thanks so much for the great advice, and I'll keep you posted.

 

[carmallarm]

PS. It would cost $300-$400 for Sunny to get spayed. Because of the high cost for me and such a traumatic experience it would be for Sunny, I'm going to save this as a last resort only if the other options don't work and she keeps laying clutches.

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Yes I agree, id let the spaying for a last resort!! Please update us and let us no how she doing.. And you said that you feed mealworms? Just in my opinion they are not to healthy for them..And are you giving them their vitamins? Just thought id throw my 2cents in there... Good luck!!!!


Lance

 

[carmallarm]

Good point about the mealworms! I realize that feeding Beardies mealworms is the same as feeding people white bread. It's filling, but not very nutritious. I breed them because they're so easy to keep, but I also breed roaches and have a bunch of frozen pinky mice in my freezer.

The problem is that Sunny will eat thawed mice or Dubias (I always freeze the roaches before I feed them to the lizards), but Draco (my male BD) won't eat any food unless it's moving. He went on a hunger strike for 2 months and barely ate anything (he only made one tiny poop/week) because he refused to eat pinky mice, Dubias, or kale. However, if I add in a couple of mealworms to his food bowl, he'll eat everything that's in it.

I also make sure to dust their food a couple of times per week with calcium supplements and vitamins. Each lizard has a complete set-up of a 40-gallon tank each, heat pads, day lights, night lights, UV lights, and thermometer strips. They also get a bath (where they poop) 4-5 times/week.

My first BD died of MBD after being in and out of the vet's office because she laid a clutch of (infertile) eggs that I wasn't expecting, and I didn't know to give her enough calcium supplements. I did a ton of research to make sure that I didn't make the same mistake with any other lizards.

I'll def. keep you posted on Sunny. Thanks again for all the feedback!

 

[Freeie]

Just thought id post this website it has a list of veggies that are really good for them. Kale isnt a everyday staple. Mustard ,colard greens, dandilions greens, endive and escrole (sp) are a better staple and are higher in calcium.

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Also try the super worms they are much better! And I only feed 1 of my females a pinky after she layed a clutch if she is under weight.As they are very fattening and not so good for them. Also you can try some phoenix worms. Just my 2 cents....



Lance

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

How often do you give calcium supplementation? I think at this point, you should start giving some liquid calcium to offset the egg laying so it doesn't zap her so badly. Make sure that your UVB light is up to date as well.
Short of spaying her, there really isn't anything else that you can do. Most of the time, egg laying is genetic. Some lay while others don't unless they are mated.
Superworms are an excellent staple & do help to maintain their weight with relative ease with greens & veggies.

Tracie

 

[carmallarm]

Thanks to everyone for the great suggestions! Here are replies to some of them:

Freeie: Thanks for the tips on the greens. All 3 of the beardies I've owned haven't liked either endive or escarole, but I should probably give mustard greens a try, since they're available at the supermarket. I'm not sure if I can find the other ones you mentioned... They do like fruit (fresh strawberries & blueberries) and grated zucchini as occasional treats.

Lance: Phoenix worms are awesome, and I know how nutritious they are, but they're expensive to get and tricky to ship in the winter. I did cut down on the pinkies when my vet told me last year that they were too high in phosphorus.

Tracie: I give Sunny calcium supplements 2-3x/week. Thanks for the reminder about the UV lights. I bought them in September of last year, and I think I remember that they're only good for 6 months, so I'll look into whether they need replacing. I wish they weren't so expensive... $15/piece. <ouch>
I've never tried superworms. The local pet stores don't carry them; they only have giant mealworms, which I heard are just normal mealworms on steroids. I'll look into buying superworms online and see if it's a viable option to set up a colony.

 

[peera]

I'm now a little concerned about what type of UVB you're using? I don't know of any good ones you can get for as low as $15, and it's really important to have good bulbs. The ReptiSUN 10.0 tube is the best, or MVB's. The cheapest I've ever seen ReptiSun's go for is $20 on http://www.petmountain.com, and MVB's are about twice that, but also provide heat and last for a year. ReptiGlo's, Zilla and compacts should be avoided as they give off uneven UVB and can really damage your dragon's eyes and skin.

 

[GottemOnDubs]

Without sounding like a total newb, I have a multi-part question here about this. Our female has laid 3 clutches from only one breeding. The first one was great, they are about to hatch any day now. I posted elsewhere about them. The second one came about 3 weeks later. It was only 5 eggs that were bad. She is pregnant again and ready to drop any day now.

My questions are:
1) Do they run out of stored sperm? Since the first clutch after mating was 21 eggs (minus 2 bad), and then it dropped to 5 bad ones for the second clutch, is this a safe assumption?
2) Pregnancy obviously wears the females down. Is it better to just mate her and let her have live eggs instead of wasting them and letting her lay infertile ones? The stress on her is the same, I would imagine. Why not enjoy it and get new life out of her, right?
3) If #2's assumption is on the right track, will subsequent matings take effect?