Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, I have a juvenile female so hopefully this won't be an issue for a while, but I was wondering if I should be concerned about future egg impaction. Any tips or things I should be aware of? This is my only BD and I don't have any plans to breed her. Thanks!

The 2 biggest causes of impaction is dehydration and improper or no nest box.

As far as nest boxes, I use a 4 x 2 enclosure with wet 100% sand. Others use different combinations. I used to use a sand soil mixture but changed to all sand a few years ago with no downside. Dirt makes dragons dirty and that's the main benefit for sand. The substrate should be in the low 80's. The sand should be moist enough to make a tunnel without colapsing but not too wet. I dig a starter hole and when she's ready she will go in dig it to her liking, lay her eggs, and then fill the hole.

I have had some luck with smaller tubs placed inside the dragons cages as well but it's not my primary method.

Generally, the female becomes gravid, when she stops eating and starts digging all over she is ready for the nest box. Drip water with an eyedropper when it gets close to time and also for a few days after she lays.

Also keep in mind a mature female dragon can lay eggs whether she was bred or near a male or not. These will of course be infertile eggs.

My female laid 5 clutches of infertile eggs last year, and I don't have any male dragons. This year she recently laid a single infertile clutch...rather late in the summer, was hoping she wasn't going to do it this year but she did...so probably have a few more spread over the next couple months..

As BDLvr mentioned, constant scratching about the cage and lack of appetite are good indications she wants to lay eggs.

FOr a lay box I used a slightly different method than BDLvr which has worked for me. As my cages don't really have the bottom support for a heavy sand filled tub inside the cage, I instead use a 55 liter sterlite container, half full with sand (I mixed some vermiculite with the sand to help keep it moist and give more volumn...but the vermiculite isn't necessary). I add sufficient water to ensure the sand will clump and hold its shape when squeezed and let go, but no water leaks out.

What I do is use a large plastic bowl, with a large opening in the side, more than big enough for the dragon to go through and turn around in...about a third of the side of the bowl is broken/cut off. This I bury in the sand, and I form a mound over it, so part of the sterlite container is free of sand and I start a small tunnel leading into the entrance of the bowl (filled with sand, so the dragon still needs to dig it out...I think some digging of the nest stimulates them into laying.)

I find the bowl gives added assurance that tunnels won't collapse on the dragon..also makes it a little easier to 'dig' out the eggs...as they are underneath the bowl or along the rim of it. Maybe not as good for fertile eggs, but infertile ones, I don't mind if a few are squished or end up outside of the bowl.
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PHLdyPayne