My newest adventure..

[BrookeE]

Well, Ive had bearded dragons before. But this is my first female. I got her about 5 years ago when she was very very small. About two weeks ago, every time her light would come on in the morning, she would run around and scratch like crazy. I didn't think much of it besides "wow she's got a lot of energy these last few days." I would just take her outside to run around in my (safe) backyard. She absolutely loves running around out there in the natural sunlight. But then i noticed she started running straight to the same spot when i let her out there. Upon closer investigation, i saw that she had been digging a hole. She had never done that before- So I started looking up reasons why a dragon digs, and found that they do this to lay eggs. Well my girl has never been in contact with a male, so this isn't possible, right? WRONG. I finally found a post that talked about dragons being able to lay infertile eggs. Well you learn something new every day. It all hit me like a train. The recent increase in appetite, bigger stomach, digging, scratching. So I ran quickly to the store and got supplies for a dig box. Within 60 seconds of being in there, she dug a hole. After 15 minutes of digging, she started laying eggs. She had 18 over the course of a very exhausting 3-4 hour period. She slept all night long, and laid 2 more the next morning immediately after waking up.
I disposed of the eggs of course since they were infertile.

Questions for the experts:
I was under the impression that dragons generally only take about 30 minutes to lay their eggs. Is it normal it took her such a long time? And is it normal that she quit and laid the last two the next morning? Could any of this have to do with me taking about a week to realize what was happening and give her a proper place to lay them? (I know that they will hold them in until they can dig a proper hole).

Why is it that she's just now laying eggs for the first time at 5 years old? Does this mean that she will lay eggs regularly now? Or can it be a one time thing?

I left her alone for a couple days after and let her recuperate. Now I'm letting her outside to get natural sunlight. Ive been giving her a lot of crickets and worms, but she has no interest in veggies right now. Ive been pretty much forcing her to drink water even though she doesn't seem interested at all. She has plenty of energy though and is very alert. Is it just that she knows she needs protein right now so she's only eating live food?
Any "aftercare" advice?

Thanks for any advice folks!

 

[Hdrydr31]

Well hello huh lol
There really is no rhyme or reason on when/if they become gravid. Some females do and some never do lay eggs. I've heard some take a long time like over the course of a few days even in some..It is quite possible she will lay more regularly OR she may not.. it would be wise to have a lay box in case. Since she has just laid eggs she needs to get all that calcium that she depleted replaced, so calcium rich items..
I'm sure others that have had gravid females will chime in to add.

 

[PatsyB]

Oh wow! Surprise! I recently read of someone that had a 10 year old bearded dragon lay her first clutch You did the right thing making her a lay box like you did and I have heard of it taking a few hours to lay and even laying a few the next day. Time to rebuild her calcium stores, make sure you dust everything and you can even give her a hardboiled egg white as a treat, it's high in calcium.

 

[BrookeE]

Well that makes me feel better, PatsyB. I tend to read a lot of bearded dragon care websites, but somehow i have never come across anything about infertile egg laying. Even when she was laying them i was franticly searching for information and couldn't find much at all. The very few articles i did find talked about them only taking less than an hour to lay them and i was caught off guard when i discovered the two the next morning. Im glad to hear this isn't uncommon. She seems to be more than fine, but I'm such a worrier when it comes to her. I didn't know they could have eggs! What a good idea. Ill have to try that out. She loves trying new things. Thanks for the info!

 

[laswabbie]

Maybe you need to find her a "date" next time. Then you'd have a whole new level of worry with younglings everywhere.

 

[PatsyB]

Well that makes me feel better, PatsyB. I tend to read a lot of bearded dragon care websites, but somehow i have never come across anything about infertile egg laying. Even when she was laying them i was franticly searching for information and couldn't find much at all. The very few articles i did find talked about them only taking less than an hour to lay them and i was caught off guard when i discovered the two the next morning. Im glad to hear this isn't uncommon. She seems to be more than fine, but I'm such a worrier when it comes to her. I didn't know they could have eggs! What a good idea. Ill have to try that out. She loves trying new things. Thanks for the info!

That's my biggest fear with my females. Dexter is almost 4 and hasn't laid any yet and Dolly hasn't laid any eggs with me but I had a reptile person tell me that females that have laid eggs tend to have a pear shaped body, which she does have. Someone a few weeks ago was told by her vet that the reason her female keeps laying infertile clutch after clutch is because she senses the male nearby and it gets her hormones going. That worries me too because I have my male in the same room with the females.

Males have their own issues too that scare me. The whole sperm plug thing grosses me out! I haven't experienced it yet with my beardie but my chameleon doesn't always wipe himself and I have to go in and do it for him. I swear he does it on purpose to make me uncomfortable LOL!