Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Our girl is almost 3 yrs old and laying her first clutch. This is our first time too! We already took her to the Vet ($450- later they tell us she's gravid). In the last few days she's lost a lot of weight, BUT is still pooping, eating (we acutally hand feed her long story), and she doesn't seem depressed. We've been soaking her a lot and she's been getting a lot of TLC.

Is it normal to loose so much weight? Her tail is soooooo skinny. We have (eco substrate) in her tank, but she shows no interest to dig.

We're not trying to breed, by the way. But ugh! We have 3 female beardies and are not looking forward to this time of year!

An insight would be great!
-----
Beardies (Zippy, Zoe & Zelda)
Frilled (Zeus)
Cat (Guess)
All spoiled rotten!

first of all 450 dollar vet bill for them to tell you shes gravid is ridiculous. i would find a new vet

2nd of all, all female beardies lay eggs. if they have not been with a male, they will not be fertile. you said you have 3 females, if there is no male then the eggs will not fertile anyways so breeding is not a concern. but they will lay eggs anyways. just throw them out when laid.

as for them losing weight, im not sure what to say. obviously its not a good thing, and im not sure why its happening. my females eat a ton of food a few weeks before laying. then right before laying they stop eating, but do not lose weight. after laying eggs they of course do lose a bit of weight, but put it back on within a few weeks. keep offering her food, greens, crickets, worms, and roaches. roaches are very good for dragons at all times, especially when trying to pack some weight on them.

hope she gets better
-----
Beach Beardies

3.3.0 bearded dragons
1.0.0 Turquoise x Sunburst Veiled Chameleon
1.1.0 Sugar Gliders
0.1.0 Miss Queen Athena (Cat)

It's normal for them to loose weight after laying but not before. When they start coming into season I know my females pack it on.. I'm talking pig out, and you know I'm ok with that.. That time a season I allow it as producing eggs, shelling, and laying takes a lot out of them. I also increase intake of vitamins, and calcium. Calcium is a must for those shells.

What's the deal with her being hand fed? What is she eating? I know I had to hand feed lots of dragons from time to time, but it's a must to get them back eating on their own. It's very hard to keep weight on a gravid female, and provide that high nutrient intake, when she is not eating on her own. I mean no matter how much hand feeding we can't provide the diet they could on their own day after day diving into a bowl a greens, and chasing crickets,a nd other insects.

She got sick when she was about 8 months old, respitory infection, and stopped eating. I haven't been able to get her to eat on her own since. She was until a few days ago, very robust! I feed her Mazuri pellets, grinded down then add water to make a "formula". I can feel the eggs and there seems to be a large one right by her vent. Like I said though she is pooping everyday. Could she poop if she was egg bound? Or having trouble with an egg? From what I understand they poop and lay out of the same "tube"

Thanks
-----
Beardies (Zippy, Zoe & Zelda)
Frilled (Zeus)
Cat (Guess)
All spoiled rotten!

Have you provided her with some place to lay eggs? Has she done any digging?

Hi
dith you replace the good bacterieas after you gave medicine against respiration faulure??
that medicine most of the time baytril kill the good bacterias he need to digest his food .
i would try to give some acidopilus ,bacsils .
go to a store where you can buy vitamines and asked for probiotics ,acidopilus ,asked for the capsules.
trow one capsule in 1/2 glas water and give that for one week long.
i also would search for a other vet 450$ is ridiculus .
http://www.herpvetconnection.com/
then do a fecal exame just to be shure.
i also would sugest parazap the tea give them a better imume system it treath against worms and you can use it prefentif.
it also have a lactative efect so nice if youre beardie have a impaction .
www.parazap.com read there more.
good luck
byeeeeeeeee