Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a bearded dragon that has laid 4 clutches of eggs. first one was not fertile. I put a male in with her and saw them mating for sure. She laid a clutch of 15 eggs of which 2 were no good. i dropped 2 as well and in the incubator a few weeks later these were definitely not good. The eggs in the first batch are fairly large. they look like they grew some although i never thought to weigh the containers. it is 60 days today and they do not look like they have any sort of indentations. they are a white or light pink coloration.

the 2nd clutch she laid 24 eggs of which some are definitely not good. I put the male back in with her after this clutch and her last clutch again was 15 larger eggs.

How do i tell if these eggs are actually viable. they are all in an incubator in hatchrite. temp averages from 81-84 and humidity ranges from 82 -99%. the eggs are in covered containers. is this normal.

lastly if i dont want her to continue to pump out eggs, what are my options.
thanks

after re-reading my post i wanted to clarify. the eggs in the incubator are actually the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th clutches.

If the eggs are 60 days now, you should see them hatch within the next 10 days or so, assuming conditions were right during incubation.

As far as how to stop her from laying eggs, fertilized females often lay 6 or 7 clutches even if they don't live with a male.

Only way to tell if an egg is viable besides incubating and waiting to see if they hatch or rot, is to candle them. Basically use a bright flashlight, like a pen light, and shine it through the egg. (be careful not to rotate the egg when doing this, mark the top of the egg before taking it out of the incubator, so you don't have to worry about turning it accidentally.) IF you see red veins over the egg, especially in the first week since being laid, its fertile. If it appears clear, than its not fertile. I believe with older eggs, if there is veins and/or a large dark shape, it is fertile.

Female dragons will lay as many clutches as they decide to do, can't really 'turn them off' once you had enough clutches. Most females lay about 4-5 clutches..but some big healthy females can lay as many as 7 clutches. Even if you never introduce a male to a female, she can still lay clutches. They will of course all be infertile but the presence of a male isn't necessary for egg production. Last summer my female (three years old at the time approximately, never seen a male other than clutch mates while she was a baby (she was about 3 months old when I bought her). She laid 127 eggs over 5 clutches. Her smallest clutch was 22 eggs, and her largest was 33. I am very glad they weren't fertile to be honest...I don't have the space to rear that many babies LOL.

Fortunately, so far, she is not showing any signs of being gravid this year...which I am hoping stays that way. Even without the hassle of incubating and caring for babies, making sure the lay box was ready for her, having her spend sometimes an entire day in the box and not laying eggs...was a pain. Sometimes I figured she just wanted to play in the damp sand. Washing her off and dealing with sand all over the place is not something I miss.
-----
PHLdyPayne

It is absolutely simple to tell fertile eggs...usually even within a week or 10 days. Candle them as Ph mentioned...do it at night in the dark you don't even have to move them or mark them...just hold the penlight right next to it. You will see the pink veins developing. Also,although it usually takes 55-70 days to hatch,my first clutch EVER,almost 16 years ago took 84 days,all were healthy and thrived. So don't toss them if they take longer than you think.Only if they start to mold.

Thanks for all the help. we are at 61 days on the first clutch and all of the eggs still look good. no mold. I guess we will wait and see. I am going to try the candleing tonight and see if i can see anything.

Hey Alan.....at this point you will probably be able to see the dragons themselves in the egg. Pretty neat to look at, I never get tired of that. Usually you can see the banding on their tails if you get the light just right.
Good Luck
Chris

chris
you are right, amazing. i only looked at one egg tonight but i could see a tail moving around so i guess the eggs are still good. cant wait as this will be our first dragons. Both parents are from bloodbank and they are hypotranslucent leatherbacks.

Not for anything... but if your getting both parents from bloodbank and they are both hypotranslucent leathers... dont you think this is too close of bloodlines to breed?

Being leathers, hypos, and trans Im thinking that the babies are going to be on the weaker side do to not having enough genetic diversity.

Im more curious about the consensus of others on this and not trying to ridicule.

Really depends if the animals are 'of' the same bloodline. Many breeders keep separate bloodlines so they can breed the offspring together, without over inbreeding.

If the two dragons in question are siblings...than it wasn't a good idea to breed them, as greater chances of complications.

When buying pairs from the same breeder, always best to ask for unrelated pairs. Honest breeders will make sure the pairs are unrelated.
-----
PHLdyPayne

i did check with bloodbank prior to purchasing as well and was told these are not related which is why we bred them. I guess in the next few days or months we will see what happens. Hopefully we have healthy good looking babies.

awesome good luck... BB has nice babies

Good to hear and I wish you the best Though I have never bred bearded dragons, I can't deny having all those babies isn't cute to see. I just have no plans to breed bearded dragons for several reasons. Space, time and money being the main ones. Perhaps later on when I get myself a house, I will reconsider though by then I will have to start with new dragons as my current female will be far too old to breed. She's 4 years old now and unless I suddenly come into alot of money, its going to be several years before I have the money to buy a house, so she will be far too old to breed.
-----
PHLdyPayne