Carrying eggs

[Dak52]

Turbo is most definitely carrying eggs and trying to burrow. She has been digging and glass surfing an extreme amount. As well as her appetite changing. She is constantly digging and trying to find a place to lay her eggs. I doubled her substrate to try and help. Any other tips to help her find a suitable spot to lay?

 

[PatsyB]

The substrate needs to be moist so that she can make a tunnel to go in and lay her eggs. That's all I know.....neither of my females have laid eggs.

 

[Dak52]

Yeah I did a lot of reading last night but had to go to work (graveyard...) so cave building will begin this morning when I get home.

Last night I just doubled the amount of substrate in her tank and adjusted her rock formations to try and help with her cave digging. We'll see what she came up with when I get home.

If it's still not up to her standards I will moisten it and try a few other things. Just a bit concerned with humidity if i moisten the substrate.

 

[Hdrydr31]

The only thing that I've read is like patsy the substrate needs to be moist like if you squeeze it together it clumps but doesn't drip moisture. And in 1 area start a hole and show it to her, just keep putting her in there until she lays.. I believe once she's done give her calcium with d3 to boost her body back up as the eggs will take a tremendous amount from her..
You can just do the substrate in a box in 1 area of her enclosure.

 

[Dak52]

And I'm not going to lie it was super cute watching her go to town digging right after I doubled her substrate last night before I left for work. She had a huge hole in a matter of minutes. She was digging with both front and rear leg on her left side at the same time.

I'm easily entertained I guess.

 

[Hdrydr31]

Yea I've put Izzy in substrate and she did the same thing it was really funny to watch

 

[Dak52]

This is what she came up with, not to bad really. She was sleeping in it when I came home. Not sure if i should move stuff around or give her a few days and see what she does from here. I might just mist it with a spray bottle and see what she does from here.

 

[Dak52]

Well shortly after she woke up she decided to fill in that hole. So I guess it wasn't good enough. So I moved her things a bit and we're onto plan B.

Pic was taken during her leg doing work!

 

[Dak52]

This morning I came home to the tip of a very small egg popping out of the surface of the substrate that she had moved during the night while I was at work.

I tried petting her head as I always do before picking her up because I wanted to remove her from her enclosure before attempting to go near her eggs. She puffed her beard up and snapped at my finger. Obviously protecting her eggs/nest but even so I was a bit shocked. She has never shown even the slightest amount of aggression towards me before.

Hopefully now that she has laid she will return to normal. I've read that most people remove the eggs so that is what I plan to do. Hopefully she won't hate me forever for doing so.

I started writing this but my attention got pulled away. I'm going to finish it now. So after leaving her alone for about 30 minutes from her snap at me I returned and tried to pet her again. This time with success! I pet her until she seemed calm and then picked her up. I placed her in a small plastic tote to contain for while I dug up eggs. She buried them very deep except for the one near the surface. Maybe a late lay? But she had dug all the way to the glass about 5 or 6 inches deep. Laid her eggs and then covered them back up.

She ended up laying a total of 11 eggs, which are infertile as she hasn't been with a male. After I removed the eggs I took her to the bathtub for a nice long soak to try and take her mind off of her eggs. It seemed to work and she was being overly friendly and active in the bath.

After the bath I returned her to her tank where I was worried about her being upset about the eggs missing. I dropped two huge Hornworms in to give her a little distraction and that was a success! I tried to make the tank look identical but she has to know I dug around and took the eggs. Obviously the one on the surface is gone.

Thankfully she hasn't reacted at all since being back in her tank and actually seems more like her normal self than how she has acted the last two weeks or so. It was a bit saddening taking her eggs away. And I'm glad she didn't react when I returned her. That would have melted my little heart!

I've only had her two months since rescuing and she is my first beardie but I'm loving every minute of it. I learn more about her each and everyday and I think she does the same with me.

Here are some pics from start to finish.

 

[Dak52]

And the 2nd hornworm being snacked on. The first one got picked up before I could even start video.

 

[PatsyB]

Beardies are solitary so as soon as the eggs are laid they are done. They have no mothering instinct or nesting. Hornworms are a good choice to up her hydration they also have good calcium. I would dust everything you feed her for the next few weeks with calcium powder to rebuild her stores. Some super worms and wax worms something with some fat to them would be good too. If you can find silk worms those would be perfect but I know those are sometimes hard to come by.

 

[Hdrydr31]

Awe bless her heart She looks soo small to have been gravid she hid it well haha I'm glad that she is back to acting normal with you. Now time to replenish her calcium and stores from laying eggs. Great job with her