Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi there folks. I picked up a couple young adult female beardies (actually very nice yellows) that the local pet store was selling two weeks ago. The owner of the pet store *claimed* they had not been in with a male, but I have no way to know. One was particularly voracious, and I saw her digging and clearly showing egg bulges today. I gave her a laying container, and she dropped 25 large white eggs. I put them in my incubator, but I am wondering how soon I should be able to tell if she was just passing duds or if she was fertilized at some point. I looked around the internet, and all I saw was references to duds tending to be yellow. These definitely look just like every other beardie egg I have seen with solid white shells. I'll candle them in a week, but I was wondering if anybody had suggestions on when I might be able to tell if they are infertile. Thanks in advance for your help.

Kris

Are you sure they are both females?

usually the infertile eggs are squishy, they can be white or yellow but I have never had firm ones..

Heidi

Positive they are both females -- after a clean vet check and two weeks of quarantine, I put them both in with a male I wanted to breed. One of them submitted immediately and was successfully bred, and the other just dropped those eggs. Totally firm, normal looking eggs. I will go back to talk to the pet store owner tomorrow, but I suspect the one encountered a male at some point. I guess that makes this a little like Christmas, not knowing what is inside those packages.

Kris

Since dragons can retain sperm for quite a while, this female could have been bred several months ago - perhaps the pet store owner was unaware. It sounds like those eggs are definitely fertile. Duds are small, yellowish, and squishy. Fertile eggs are large, firm and white. No need to wait a week to candle them. If they are fertile, you will see a nice orange circle in the eggs as soon as they are laid. If the eggs are clear, with "nothing going on" inside, then they are probably infertile.

Jamie