Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys. I messed up and didnt get vermiculite for her to lay in. I thought she was still a little ways away from laying. I came home last night, and there were 12 eggs in the corner, buried under calci sand. 7 of them look great. The others are all about 1/3 smaller, and are kinda squishy. The good ones still look white, while the others have adapted the blue color of sand. So, I'm guessing they're bad eggs? What do you guys think? Any chance of there being a good one in there? Did I hurt the good ones by having them in sand?

The risk is that the eggs may have dried out in the sand. I would move them carefully without turning into a container 1/2 buried with moist vermiculite. Then incubate them and cross your fingers. I assume she has been with a male so that fertile eggs are a possibility? The squishy half filled eggs are most likely not fertile regardless. If you don't want to hatch the eggs, the humane thing is to freeze them overnight before discarding.

Well, I put them in the incubator right away. It's one of those micro processor ones that controls the heat and humidity by a computer. I think it's made by Jurgan? I know that's not quite the name, but some of you probably know what I'm talking about. I'll discard the squishy ones tonight. The other ones did really look good. And the other factor is, I dont know how long they were in the sand. Both my wife and I were at work all day. They might have just been layed an hour or so before I got to them. Or, they could have been there all day-I dont know. And yes, She was with my Red male. I would imagine (if they do hatch), that the babies of a red male and a citrus female should be pretty nice looking. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Thanks for the reply.

I personally suggest getting rid of the calci sand completely from your dragon's cage. Regular children's playsand is a better loose substrate and you can mix it with vermiculite and/or soil, adding water till it packs down nicely but isn't too wet.

With my female laying eggs this year (all infertile, she was never with a male), I was caught by surprise as she hasn't laid any eggs in the last two years since she was mature enough to have eggs, so didn't expect her to have them this year. I used the bag of children's playsand I had on hand, with some vesiculate in a sterlite container( a 55l (51qt) size). On a whim I decided to put a plastic bowl I had lying around which I used for a ball python hide (paid a buck for it at a dollar store and used a drumel tool to cut out a 'cave entrance' but it had broken wider than I wanted, so I sort of disgarded it but didn't get around to throwing out. I buried this under the sand and pushed sand inside, then started a opening leading into the opening in the side of the bowl. My dragon liked this 'cave' and layed in the hole she dug underneath the bowl. Its one way to ensure the cave doesn't fall in on her and the eggs are easier to find (just remove the sand ontop of the bowl then lift the bowl away).

So far my female has laid 26 eggs in her first clutch and 32 in her second clutch. I am very glad they are infertile...I certainly don't have the room or money to set up bins for 58 babies or more.
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PHLdyPayne

THAT IS AN AWSOME IDEA!
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www.moonstonedragons.com

From what I have read about the calci sand is that when it gets wet it clumps up. This makes it mor likly to get in your dragon and cause a problem. I know they continue to sell it at the petstores so i guess they havn't come to the conclusion that it is that bad. I guess its better safe than sorry and the play sand is way cheaper. Good luck with the eggs let us know how they are going and maybe a few pics and then for sure some when they hatch!

I have a dragon who laid her very first clutch in the sand inside her enclosure also. I put her in and out of the laying box for days and one night put her back in her enclosure and sure enough, next morning there were around 20 eggs. A couple of those didn't make it from the get go but the rest of them probably would have hatched out fine had we not had an ice storm that left us without power for two days during the middle of their incubation. I did have six dragons hatch from that clutch. I suspect it does have more to do with how long the eggs are there and if they dry out and not really so much about what they were laid in. Just my opinion and someone might know something to the contrary.