Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, all. I'm Michelle, and have been a lurker on this forum for some time now. I'm hoping that some of you may be able to help us out.

On Halloween of last year, my daughter and I rescued a Bearded Dragon, Ivy. She came to us suffering from coccidia and MBD, and has been under veterinarian's care for months now. Our main problem with Ivy is that she does not eat properly. With the exception of an occassional pea, she will not eat anything unless it is moving (crickets, superworms, wax worms, etc). With the help of our vet, we have made great progress with her, but it has been one step forward and two steps back. Unfortunately, we suspect it always will be.

We live in Florida, and now that the weather is so warm, Ivy goes outside everyday in a screened in enclosure. Due to a broken leg, the bottom of her encloure is soft sand. About an hour ago, I went to check on her, and found that she had laid an egg! Now, I have spoken to my vet already (wonderful guy, a leading dragon vet here in Florida) who said that this can be the result of a few things, including the fact that she has been getting extra calcium supplements, as well as the fact that we don't know much about Ivy's past. We have no idea if she's ever been with a male. Regardless, she is still in her enclosure, and we are waiting to see if she will lay any more eggs. Our question is....what do we do now? We know that there is a very slim chance of these eggs being fertile. I also read a post below in regards to their appearance, and this egg appears to have a fairly thin shell...although, I've never seen a reptile egg before, so I certainly have nothing to compare it to! Is it best that I leave it in the enlosure for now? Should it be covered? Should I move it to a small tank we have, and keep a light on it to keep it warm? Obviously, we do not have an incubator, and have never had experience with an egg of any kind other than what is scrambled for breakfast.

Any advice anyone can offer is greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Michelle

My guess is it is infertile and shouldn't be bothered with. You would know within a day or two if it was good or not anyway as it would dimple and start to "look bad". Infertile eggs generally are not a nice creamy white color either. They tend to have more of a yellowish hue to them.

Here are some fertile eggs to compare by

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Lisa
Cricket free babies!
LIVE hatchling web cam 8 - 8 EST
www.beginnersbasics.com

Hi Lisa, and thank you. You are right about the color issue. The sand has that typical beige hue to it, and you can hardly spot the egg, it blends so well.

Sad. But at the very least, it's a very neat experience.

Michelle

Wow, since my initial post, we are up to three eggs!

Michelle

You need to get her in a lay box, NOW. Even if they are duds, which they probably are, she still needs the proper conditions to lay them so she doesn't get egg bound.

Sean
Heart Mountain Herps

Thank you Sean, and I do appreciate your concern. But I have no idea what a "lay box" is. Can you explain so maybe I'll know if there is ever a next time? Never in a million years did we expect her to lay eggs.

She has been moved though and is back in her tank at the vet's advice. It was just too cool outside. From what I am told, the eggs are definetly infertile. They have visible calcium deposits on them, and you can see nothing inside at all. She is up to #15, though.

Michelle

The easiest way is to take a big rubbermaid container and pile moist dirt on one side 10-15 inches deep in a slant. There are other methods but I like this one because it's easy. They will tunnel into this and lay their eggs and then burry them. I would still offer the dirt, beardies can lay a lot of eggs, she may not be done at 15.

Sean
Heart Mountain Herps

Great, it sounds like exactly what she was in already! Her outside enclosure is about 24 in x 14 in, sand is about 8-10 in deep. We just re-did it this week, and she must be happy with it!

Michelle

The average number of eggs produced by a female bearded dragon is around 20, so you can be sure there are probably more to come. You should provide proper nest box so she doesn't get egg bound (which could kill her... and it sounds like she's had enough problems already).

A nest box should be about 12"x12"x12" - 14"x14"x14". Some people use smaller nest boxes, but I prefer to use a larger one and let the female dig as deep as she wants (they usually dig right to the bottom).

Fill the container with either moist, packable playsand or sand blended with soil. She'll need to be able to dig a tunnel down into the box without the tunnel collapsing on her. You can test it by digging a test tunnel first and making sure it holds up. You can even partially dig the hole for her and keep showing it to her.

Eventually, she should dig down and lay the eggs properly rather than just dropping them on the ground. I wouldn't worry about the fertility of the eggs until you make sure she has the proper nest box to lay them in. After she lays in the nest box, you can dig them out and incubate them.

Thank you. It sounds as if she was already in what can be considered nesting box, then. Her outdoor enclosure is a little larger than the dimentions you mention, and has play sand about eight to ten inches deep. She dug quite a few inches down, which was a feat in itself since she has a broken leg. I think we got lucky on this one.

Michelle

That's good. She's probably going to deplete a lot of her fat reserves and could use a few pinkies or wax worms after she lays the eggs... in addition to as many crickets/greens as she would normally eat. I would think that a good vet would have properly informed you about setting up a nest box (that's very common knowledge), so you might want to look into a vet who's more experienced/knowledgeable with reptiles. Good luck w/the eggs.

If you plan to keep her, I'd highly recommend buying a good book like "The Bearded Dragon Manual". Egg laying females require extra care -- you could also find some good info by reading the older questions/posts in this forum.

Hi, and thank you again for your advice. I don't think you've quite understand the situation, though.... As I stated in my initial post, Ivy is a rescue (that we most definetly intend to keep) and is already under the care of one of the leading herp vets here in Florida. He knows his stuff, that's for sure. (Has a dragon setup in-office that most people only dream of having)And had he known that she was gravid, he most certainly would have made sure she had a proper place to be at the proper time. (As it turns out, she was absolutely in the right place, at the right time) He called twice last night to check on her, and he really isn't at all surprised that this happened so quickly. Her calcium levels from her bloodwork actually came back high, it's just not getting to where it NEEDS to be, hence the MBD and the surprise eggs. He even had us remove her cast so she would be more comfortable. So, thank you for your concern, but my vet is extremely capable.

Also as I stated, she also won't eat anything on her own, and has to be hand fed, so what she would "normally eat" is nil... This is one stubborn dragon.....though of course, she will have things offered to her this morning, as soon as she is warm and awake.

Again, thank you for your advice. I do have the book that you mentioned, and it has already been an excellent source of reference for us, as have these forums and personal friends of ours. I apologize for the defensive stance that this post has taken, albeit slight, I hope. However, I do not go in to owning an animal blind. We did extensive research on dragons before getting one, and I really feel that you are making assumptions unnecessarily, though again, we do appreciate your concern.

Michelle