Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Heylas all--
I've noticed something the last few weeks that I hadn't ever really heard about before, and that is that females will lay eggs even if they're not bred....
Is this true of *all* females or just some? At what age does this generally happen? My girl is not even a year yet, but lately (the past few days) she's been digging like crazy in her tank. I recently redid the layout of the tank, due to the baby cricket incident, but most of her basking areas are in the same place as they were. But twice now I've had to take out her water dishes and clean them cuz she had managed to half fill them with sand! (I know, I know. It's debatable whether sand is a good substrate or not, please let's not start that....)
Any ideas on what could be going on with her?
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0.2 cats (Pandora & Journey)
0.1 bearded dragon (Kleio)
0.0.1 green tree frog (Squishy)
0.0.3 fishes (namoli, Asana, Adagio)

Yes it's true some females will lay eggs even when not bred. I doubt this is your problem.

More likely, she is looking for a place to dig in and brumate. You really should have a hide spot on each end of her tank. The hide spot should be wide enough for them to go into and turn around.

I too hate my dragons and use sand (lol) I feel it is the best substrate when the dragons brumate. I push a 1/2 log into the sand as best as possible and have it against the back wall so it is as dark as possible. They go under the 1/2 log and dig the sand into a pile that covers the entrance. Most of the time they cover it almost entirely. One of mine closed it completely, so I opened it some at the top to make sure she could breath. I've attched a picture from before I dug a small hole out of the top with a pen.

Brumation can be stressful for 1st time dragon owners and with small dragons. I could give you more care information if you want to tell me where you live and how much your dragon weighs. It was posted earlier that a dragon will lose between 20-80 grams during brumation. My experience doesn't agree with this. I would be unhappy if my any of my dragons lost 20 grams and would be downright panicked if they lost anywhere near 80.

Hello, thanks for the info--
Not sure how much she weighs, tho she's growing pretty steadily about 2in/month. She's about 14in now. We're in the western PA (and right about now it's so frikkin cold out, I'm ready to climb in Kleio's tank cuz I'm SURE it's the warmest spot in the house!!!!)
There is a hide spot on each side of the tank already, although there may not be enough substrate for her to dig as deep as she'd like to? (I ended up dumping much of it, with the baby cricket thing. Ugh!!)
I have to say, the digging is reaaaally kind of difficult to deal with, cuz she scratches the sides of the tank as well. Nails on glass. Not to mention it's driving the cats bonkers cuz they can hear her and want to get in there to see what the heck's going on!

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0.2 cats (Pandora & Journey)
0.1 bearded dragon (Kleio)
0.0.1 green tree frog (Squishy)
0.0.3 fishes (namoli, Asana, Adagio)

I live in South Jersey so the weather is about the same as you. When she digs you could try showing her the hide spot on the cool end. I put mine in front of it facing inside to prompt them to check it out. I also hate the digging in the wrong spot because one of mine would dig under the water dish till it tipped over. lol. Ay 14" she's probably to young to brumate though and it's pretty late in the season to start.

It was 45 here today and one of mine came out. I'm hoping that the brumation thing is coming to an end soon. Of course it's supposed to snow tomorrow and then get real cold again so we'll see.

One reason they dig or dig in is because they are looking for more humidity. This time of year most houses are only 20% relative humidity which makes their warm enclosures are less than 5%. I have a large humidifier (19 gallon) in the room with mine and try to maintain about 35-40% which makes the enclosures about 20-25%.

5% humidity is really too low for even a desert dwelling dragon. Maybe spray the glass until the outside temperature comes up to raise the humidity some it you don't have a humidifier.

Thank you, I will try your suggestions!
At what size do they generally begin to brumate?
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0.2 cats (Pandora & Journey)
0.1 bearded dragon (Kleio)
0.0.1 green tree frog (Squishy)
0.0.3 fishes (namoli, Asana, Adagio)

I have one brumating at 4 months (start of brumation, she's 7 months now), 16", 250 grams. This is this year and she hasn't woken yet. I feel brumation is undesireable at this age and size but I'm powerless to stop nature.

Otherwise, some never brumate. Just depends on the dragon and where you live I guess. The one that woke yesterday only slept for 2 weeks.

my oldest female was about 14 in when she did her first burm and stayed that way for almost 3 mounths, scared the crap out of me i was really starting to worry cause this was during the end of the summer but then she just woke up and started eating like crazy again
and has grown 2 more inches since then
good luck and be patient
Tony