One of my favorite Beardies (I have 23) is a large female named Simone. She is 22 1/2" long and weighs close to 800 grams. She lives with her mate and they are probably my best m/f pair. (Never any issues) She is what I call a long bodied dragon. Meaning her length is in her body rather than a long tail. She is also very wide and lays very large clutches of eggs. She's never laid 40 but has laid 39 a few times. She has always been one of my easiest egg layers. When I put her in the nest box she immediately digs and lays within a few hours.
In general healthy dragons don't gain weight before laying eggs the first time of the season. They seem to gain all their desired weight back after the last clutch the season before and then convert that weight in the spring to eggs. It's interesting that they do this and contrary to what you would think, but my weight records confirm it with multiple females. This is assuming they are full grown adult females.
The week before last I knew she was ready to lay. She had stopped eating and and was losing a little weight. (normal) It had been the usual 3 weeks since she arose from brumation. I place mine in the nest boxes during the day and then back in their regular enclosures at night so I can reheat the nest box substrate. Some days she would explore the hole in the nest box but never laid any eggs. Last Sunday I put her in the nest box and while she was there I noticed 3 eggs in a hide in her regular enclosure. I was worried and pretty much knew I had trouble. None of my females have ever done this before.
Sunday, even with much prompting she still would not lay any more eggs. I left her in the nest box overnight with the thought that I would just move her to another in the am. Monday morning to my horror she had become desperate. Her eyes were sunken in, the pads on her head were now concave, and her once wide tail had become so thin the bones were sticking out. She still weighed 787. It amazed me how quickly all these changes happened. I always offer gravid females water from an eyedropper twice a day, which she partook regularly.
I leave for work early, prior to my vet opening. I called my vet from work and scheduled an appt. for 4 that day not even knowing if she'd live that long. When I got home she was worse ( I was secretly hoping she would lay the eggs and this saga would be over) she had thrown up and lost almost 40 grams to 750. When I picked her up to put her in the carrier again she threw up.
At the vet it was decided to give her IV fluids and antibiotics. It was possible an egg had broken inside her. Then surgery the next day (Tuesday) to remove the eggs and spay her. I called Tuesday am and she had survived the night. I went to see her Tuesday PM and she had survived the surgery although it looked like just barely. I took her home on Wednesday and am crossing my fingers that she gets no complications or infection. So far so good.
I guess if there is a moral to my story, it's reptiles go downhill FAST and good record keeping really helps.
Kyler, 9 and Collin, 6