URGENT:- beardy breeding, help needed

[JasonL]

It's not normal for them to lay like that, it sounds to me like she does not like your nesting arrangements and is trying to hold off laying them, this can cause a loss in calcium and egg binding, both will lead to death, though it sounds like your one will probably drop them. Have you offered her a deep tub of soil & or sand?

 

[mattmc]

hey. she has laid two more since i last posted. the substrate of the whole enclosure is sand. it is about 10cm deep in some spots. she is frequantly digging and since last wednesday she has only not laid ann egg on sunday. as i am in school my mum rang many vets and Taronga Zoo to ask if this was normall or if i should take her to a vet. they said it is normal but if she continues like this over the next week she should see a vet. she did eat some crickets this morning and she did eat some veggies. she seems active and she does drink water often. reply if you think there is something Wrong.
Cheerio.
Matt

 

[JasonL]

You need to make the a lay area so she can bury herself completely as in the pics, she will lay all the eggs at once if you do this. It will be draining her energy & calcium down and they can go backwards very quickly.

 

[mattmc]

unfortunatley i dont have any sand left. lol.
what other substrate could i use to mix in

 

[mattmc]

what should the vermiculite in ratio to water be in the incubator thanks
matt

 

[paulw6676]

i have heard the vermiculite/water should be 1:1 and maby a bit more vermiculite

 

[angel_saza]

I think i read somewhere that the ration is equal weights of vermiculite and water for the incubator. Also, i think there should be at least 10 inches of substrate that they can burrow into. I spoke to a breeder at a herp meeting this week and he uses a mix of potting soil and bricklayers sand.

Another idea is to make a cave out of 2 cat litter trays. See attatched photo. The bottom tray, fil up with substrate and cut a door out of the top tray. So its easy for the dragon to get inside, build up a ramp or similar to the entrance of the nest box.

 

[mattmc]

she settled down and laid 4 more eggs of which 1 was all flat and squished.
cheerio
Matt

 

[JKretzs613]

Agree

Hello Matt,

Oh sorry I didn't realize you didn't have a laybox setup for her. As suggested, that is extremely important. Egg binding is dangerous & can be fatal. Most of the time they don't lay is because of the improper nesting site, but there are other reasons such as irregularly shaped eggs, low hormone levels, too low of calcium levels, or hydration status.
The best mixture for a laybox is a mix of vermiculite & soil. It needs to be moist but not sopping wet. It should hold up when she digs her burrow so it wont cave in on her. It needs to be around 12 inches deep & fairly decent sized for a laybox. Also, keep a heatlamp over her to help keep her warm so her muscular contractions come easier as they are too lethargic when they are cold.
I hope she finishes laying soon. Let us know how she is doing.


Tracie

 

[mattmc]

i think she finished laying. she dug a burrow and laid 4 yesterday. i think shes finished.
cheers.
matt

 

[angel_saza]

Congratulations. Now you get to play the waiting game til hatching day!!

 

[JKretzs613]

Hello

Hello Matt,

So how many total eggs is that? I wouldn't completely count her out yet! LOL Sometimes, they surprise you with more. Just keep the laybox around, & watch her behaviour for the next few days as you have been.
I am glad she is doing pretty well now.
Thanks for the continued updates on her.


Tracie

 

[mattmc]

there has been ten layed all up but three were bad eggs according to everything ive read
matt

 

[Tatelina]

unfortunatley i dont have any sand left. lol.
what other substrate could i use to mix in

Your young pet which is probably too young to take on the stress of laying is obviously having slight issues and you won't even get your mum to drive you to Bunnings to buy a $6 bag of sand?
That is absolutely ridiculous.

 

[mattmc]

well she already layed wat i think is all that she had. she settled down and shes fine. oh and not everyones mum drives and not everyones dad works at the right time.

 

[Tatelina]

Bunnings is open until 9pm on weekdays. And there are bountiful amounts of public transport options.

I think the main point I'm trying to get across is that maybe you should have researched a bit more BEFORE you bred your animal.
Tisk tisk.

 

[angel_saza]

Considering we don't know about Matt's personal circumstances, i don't think it's very fair to start flaming him. Sounds like he's tried to do his best, and he's asked questions where he's not sure. Perhaps he didn't even realise he had a pair with the potential to breed, i know it just happened to a friend of mine with their beardies.

 

[Tatelina]

I thought we were all entitled to our own opinion?

Besides.....

Hi all you reptile fanatics. Ive got myself two beardies and i am planning on breeding them next season.

 

[shamous1]

Agreed

Considering we don't know about Matt's personal circumstances, i don't think it's very fair to start flaming him. Sounds like he's tried to do his best, and he's asked questions where he's not sure. Perhaps he didn't even realise he had a pair with the potential to breed, i know it just happened to a friend of mine with their beardies.

I agree, but having said that if you have male and female together you should expect that nature can and will take it's course.

Folicular stosis is serious and when animals cannot off load there eggs quickly enough it can cause all sorts of grief and in most cases the animal will die or have to be put down.

Preparation is everything when dealing with reptiles. Right through. From sand (for egg laying) keeping an eye on the female and watching her scratching at the sand. The whole kit and kaboodle.

I've got a pic somewhere of one of my beardies that I had to get put down due to egg binding. She could'nt pass the eggs and ended up being paralized.

Try and get yourself a good CBD book and do a bit of extra homework. This could save you a lot of grief in the long run.

Hope your eggs turn out o'k. IMO she was too young though.

 

[scorps]

meh i hope the babys are fin