Athena laid eggs this morning... (photo)

[lexi]

This morning when we gave her greens she had laid these two eggs in the corner of her viv:

The woman we adopted her from did say that she had been laying some infertile eggs (which I assume these are, since they are a "tea stained" color... plus I don't believe she's been near a male in some time, if ever). I know the woman we got her from had a male at one point, but I believe it's been a good while since he passed away, and I know they were not housed together.

So, my questions are is there anything special I need to do for her during this time? Extra supplementation, or ??? She's a pretty petite little girl. I've read about egg binding but I don't know how to prevent that or if it even occurs with infertile eggs. We do not plan on breeding her with Sal.

 

[ladyknite]

give her a laybox and additional proteins and calciums. All the greens she can eat.

 

[lexi]

Okay, how do I make a laybox? She is good with eating her greens... digs in right away when we put them in.

 

[Michele654]

My Herp Vet told me to place a box with Sand in it for her to dig and lay her eggs. If she can't find a suitable place (sand) to lay them she could end up with what is called egg binding. You can remove the box of sand once she releases all her eggs. Sand in a VIV is not good for them when hunting cricket because they can ingest the sand particles and cause digestive problems. So once they eggs are out get the sand out as well.

 

[crypticdragons]

SETTING UP A LAYBOX 101

30 gallon grey tupperware/sterlite container from Home Depot - $7
1 bag of all natural top soil from Home Depot or Garden Center -$8
You will need a 40 watt spot light bulb with brooder lamp - $13 (Both can be purchased from Home Depot for $4-$5 each)

Now you will need to moisten the top soil to until is very damp but not wet... I like to create a 45 degree hole in one corner of the container, and I place the female head first into that corner. Her instincts will take over from here provided the top soil or sand is warm enough. Don't use vermiculite it's not that good for digging, and it's expensive compared to sand or top soil in large quanities... So save the vermiculite for incubation of the eggs...

Before the female is placed in the lay box you need to cut a hole in the top of the lid so the 40 watt spot light can shine down inside of the bin for warmth... I cut my holes just slightly larger than the diameter of the bulb, and the brooder/lamp fixture will rest on top of the lid...

Once that's all set, your female will dig for up to 2 hours before laying... But if she's not to picky she will lay almost immediately after finishing her first hole. Now she may dig "test" holes, where she might lay 1-2 eggs on one hole, and decide she doesn't like that hole. Then cover those eggs up and move on to another hole where she might lay the remainder of the eggs. So be sure to check all of the corners of the bin before deciding you have all of her eggs.

 

[ladyknite]

yup, what they said.
Good luck!!!!! Keep us up to date. Things should go much faster with a laybox.

 

[lexi]

Thanks very much! We'll get started on that this morning.

 

[zebraflavencs]

Referring back to the other thread... yeah i guess she was... lol


Janie

 

[lexi]

Referring back to the other thread... yeah i guess she was... lol


Janie

lol... how many eggs do they generally lay? Meaning, how will I know when she is finished? We did get the laybox going according to the above specifications. I put her in 'head first' and she went right in, poked around a bit and came back out. I haven't checked for eggs since the ones we found this morning as I don't want to disturb her too much. She did eat her greens (she's so good about that!) as well as 5 dubias that were dusted with RepCal calcium. She seems a little on edge, like she's had too much coffee Is that normal for females when they're gravid/laying?

Edited to add: Oh, and she also pooped today, so things are working well on that front as well.

 

[zebraflavencs]

How many did she lay ? Normally you would see somewhere around 20 eggs. Sometimes more, sometimes less...
Janie

 

[lexi]

How many did she lay ? Normally you would see somewhere around 20 eggs. Sometimes more, sometimes less...
Janie

She has not laid any more. The woman we adopted her from said she had been laying infertile eggs before we took her. She has only laid 3 since she's been here with us - the two above and one with those two that was broken open. There are no eggs in the laybox.

She is still eating, pooping (more than Sal does - at least once a day) and there was a whitish residue on the tiles, kind of spread about. Her poops are pretty solid. I felt around in her belly and didn't feel anything in there. I'm not sure if I should take her in or not. What do you guys think? Does the whitish residue (not urates) I found mean she is finished laying?

 

[ladyknite]

whitish residue is either composite or urate. could be either.

If she's eating, shes not bound. Bound females exhibit pain. Pain prohibits eating.

Give her a few days

 

[lexi]

whitish residue is either composite or urate. could be either.

If she's eating, shes not bound. Bound females exhibit pain. Pain prohibits eating.

Give her a few days

Good to know. I sent an email to her previous owner just to see how many she laid before we got her. She dug into her greens and veggies today, and had 5 roaches yesterday. Should I give her more protein and calcium today?

 

[ladyknite]

laying eggs, both fertile and infertile takes alot from her natural stores. So give her some extra if she'll take it. The infertiles are harder on their system than viable eggs.

 

[lexi]

This is the email I received from her previous owner. I told her that she had laid 3 eggs, and this was her response:

"Ok. She should lay more than that. It's usually over a couple days and she generally lays between 7-16 eggs per lay (I know that's not super helpful... but that's what she does). She will go through about 3 cycles where she lays, it will be back to back months. So you can expect her to lay again toward the end of Feb and March. And she may be looking anorexic again soon. I'm sure you've already noticed she's a bit of a piglet.

She's been laying as long as I have had her, and she was approx 18 months when I got her. It totally freaked me out the first couple times she did it and I constantly worried about her getting egg-bound. Obviously this hasn't happened. If she looks like she's really straining, I've heard you can try and get them to ingest some olive oil (I find putting waxworms in a dish of olive oil is the most effective means to accomplish this) or you can give her a warmer than usual bath. I forgot to mention- she will ALWAYS have a bowel movement in the bath. I think it's part of her "I don't particularly like baths mentality).

Let me know if I can get you anymore information."


I will offer her some more protein and she if she'll take it.

 

[ladyknite]

that sounded like a reasonable response, and most likely the way it will happen. they tend not to venture to far from habit.

 

[lexi]

She ate 3 more dubias and of course her salad, which is good since she is probably going through relocation stress as well. Poor girl.

 

[lexi]

I just found another poop in her viv... small, like the others. At least, I'm pretty sure it was poop - it looked too digested to be vomit. It seems like she's pooping a lot, though.

Our regular reptile vet is out of town (of course) until Feb 10th. I've made an appointment with another vet's office which they referred me to for Saturday morning (their earliest available). I want to just have someone take a look at her, do a fecal, etc.

 

[lexi]

She laid another egg this morning, so that's 4. I can see that there are still more in there. We are offering her protein daily with calcium supplement and fresh greens and veggies twice a day. I'm going to try some wax worms in olive oil and a warm bath today, since her previous owner says that's what she's done in the past to help her.