Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have no nesting box but at least a good 50 pounds of sand/vermaculite mix, and she digs but wont seem to lay em i dont want her egg bound any sugestions?

Any rubbermaid container or even a bucket can serve as an egg laying bin.

There are many reasons why dragons won't lay their eggs in the sand provided. The sand may be too wet, dry, cold, or hot. It may not be deep enough etc. She may not be ready to lay eggs yet but is just digging test holes. Sometimes just starting a hole for her will be enough to get her to dig it the rest of the way and lay her eggs. She may feel exposed, so covering the cage sides around where the sand is kept (assuming, since you said you don't have a egg laying box, you just piled the sand in her cage) to give her privacy.

Is she still eating? Most dragons stop eating completely a couple days before they lay eggs. If she isn't straining to lay eggs, but no eggs come out, she probably isn't egg bound but the longer she keeps eggs inside when they are ready to lay, increases the chances she becomes egg bound. Describing her behavior would work better to figure out whats going on. Is she digging at all or just ignoring the sand completely? Is she digging at it frantically, scatting it all over the cage? Does she dig and sit for a long time straining till she finally gives up and leaves but no eggs are lain? All these details help.
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PHLdyPayne

On thing to add. Be sure you over hydrate her. Offer her water from an eyedropper 2 - 3 times a day. Just drip it on her nose and if she laps it keep doing it till she stops or moves away. It takes a lot of ater before and for a few days after she lays eggs. Don't mist her get her to drink.

she is franticly going nuts trying to dig holes in witch she ditchs em when shes half way done, she dint tuch todays salad at all and i been giving her water once a day my friend told me to take a half log hiding spot, and coving and filling it with sand to help cause maybe the borrows arnt holding up so the log will act as a support beam sound good at all?

You should post a pic of your setup. It's a lot easier to make suggestions when I can visualize what might work. But anyway here's what I have done now and in the past.

I now have specifically nest boxes. They are either 4' x 2' or 5' x 2'. I now only used sand, but used to use a sand dirt mixture. I wet the sand with hot water and try to get it to be about 85 degrees. Then I lightly pack it into a pile in the corner of one side. It can't be packed too tight or be so wet that the dragon has difficulty digging. It needs to be tight enough only to keep from collapsing. Then dig a hole with your hand. I start about 4 inches up from the floor and angle slightly down till I hit the bottom, I dig in with my hand and a spoon about 12" but you may not have enough sand for that. Try not to make the hole to tall. Then I show her the hole. If she is ready she generally goes right in and digs it to her specs.

I have also used large plastic containers in their regular cages in the past. I cut one side away and then fill it almost full of sand and put the lid on. I think sides around the sand are important. If she digs and then comes out of the sand pile somewhere else then that's not going to work for her. They generally seem to dig till they hit something (probably a rock in the wild) and that's where they start the nest. So if you're not going to use a container I'd pile the sand in a corner of the enclosure.