Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My female Hypo laid a nice egg a few days ago, and for some reason still has about 6 still inside of her. The eggs were unexpected as she was in the middle of a 2 month brumation. But what's stressing me out is that she hasn't laid the rest of the eggs. She has 2 lay boxes in her enclosure (one under the light and one in the cooler end), I removed the male in case he was stressing her out, I've tried soaking her in desperation but still nothing. The eggs however seem to have dropped and are lower in her abdomen, but I just can't figure out why she would lay them so far apart. Oh, it's her first clutch as well and she laid the first one after she had a warm soak. I think I am more stressed out than she is about it....but I was just wondering if anyone else has run into this????

Thankful for any advice!!!

do you know if they are fertile? has she breed with a male?

how do you know that there are six left? usually they will have more than just seven eggs...but there are exceptions.

if you think that she is bound, i would make sure that the egg laying box is hydrated enough. I have had a similar problem before and learned that if the egg laying box isn't hydrated enough she will continue to dig and dig and dig and dig and dig ....because she is looking for more hydrated soil to leave the eggs in. Believe it or not...beardies are quite retarded, but when it comes to laying eggs, they know what they are doing. most cases females become bound because there is no suitable spot to lay the eggs.
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a free range dragon is a happy dragon

I'm not sure how it's 'unexpected' when you've got them housed together. If you house a healthy male and female together expect eggs, in fact expect them all the time until he breeds her to death. Also average clutch size is more like 20-30 so she's probably packing quite a few still. I have much better luck with a dedicated lay box rather than one you just put in, I'll describe what has worked best for me. Get the largest size rubbermaid that walmart sells (about $10) and a 50lb bag of plain dirt without all the chemicals in it ($1). Cut a hole in 1/2 the lid to put a light through, dump the dirt in and moisten it (not muddy but damp) and pile it over to one side, point the light at the mound and put your girl in.
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Heart Mountain Herps

I was under the impression that beardies don't usually breed or lay during brumation, I thought that the brumation itself was an environmental cue and the beardies would begin breeding as they warmed up. This is why it was unexpected, and apparently I was wrong. The eggs looks viable as she had previous slugs before, I had a friend that was a breeder in the past look at it. The six eggs we a rough estimate, you can feel six if you gently move you hand over her belly. She does not look much bigger than she usually is so I assumed her first clutch might be small. The substrate that she is laying in is a mix of vermiculite and pete moss, and is moist to the point that it clumps well and when squeezed only has small a trickle of water come out. I will grab a larger under the bed rummbermaid and place it in her cage. I just s till can't figure out why she would lay on clutch a different times.
She's slowly driving me nuts.....thank you for all of your suggestions. Oh, has anyone heard of soaking in a bath with mineral oil to help the animal lay; my friend would do it with her bird when it was egg bound.

Thanks again for the responses.

How old is your female? A female bred too young tend to have a higher risk of being egg bound and having a small clutch.

An underbed container won't work for an egg laying bin, they are way too shadow. The egg laying bin should have at least 8" of soil. If you are using shadow bins, she may not like it soo shadow, so won't use it. Find a container that is about 1 1/2 to 2 x her total length (snout to tail tip) about the same length wide and at least 12" deep. Fill with soil or soil/vermiculite mix with enough water that it clumps when squeezed without any water dripping out.

If she doesn't lay the rest of her eggs in a few more days or after the weekend at the latests, or shows any signs of distress, take her to a vet immediately. Egg binding can kill your dragon.

Females should not be brumated if there is any chance they are gravid. Keeping her housed with a male all the time, pretty much guarentees she is gravid or has a high chance of being gravid. I suggest keeping the male and female apart all the time, except to mate.
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PHLdyPayne

She's about 15 months old. I went out and got a container that's 32 inches long x 20 wide and 18 deep. She's acting normal she's active, but if it goes on for any longer I'm going to take her to the local reptile vet. I talked to a local breeder today Dave at DNA reptiles, couldn't say enough nice things about that man, and he really helped me out. So, at this time I am striking it down to me being overly stressed and her container being to small for her liking. I will change her nesting site and keep my fingers crossed.