Female beardy question

I have recently rescued a female Beardy. She's digging and I feel some possible lumps in her belly. They could possibly be eggs. My question is do I need to provide a box of substrate suitable for her to dig and lay eggs in? she is currently on newspaper and doesn't have anything available to try to bury eggs in. Any opinions?

Get her a lay box ASAP or just a big pile of dirt in a corner and cover her tank while she lays. If she doesn't feel comfortable, she can become egg-bound and die. I also highly suggest you freeze all her eggs as it's very possible whatever male she was with is related to her. I would leave the lay box in there all summer as it's highly probably she will lay 3-7 clutches.

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Originally Posted by Mezclado_Reps

Get her a lay box ASAP or just a big pile of dirt in a corner and cover her tank while she lays. If she doesn't feel comfortable, she can become egg-bound and die. I also highly suggest you freeze all her eggs as it's very possible whatever male she was with is related to her. I would leave the lay box in there all summer as it's highly probably she will lay 3-7 clutches.

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Great advice on getting some substrate for her to lay in, she definitely needs it if she really is gravid. A couple questions though Sara. Why should he freeze the eggs? Why would the sire probably be related to her?

-Evan

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Originally Posted by Evan Jamison

A couple questions though Sara. Why should he freeze the eggs?
-Evan

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Be thankful that she didn't tell him he should bash them in with a hammer; she's sweet like that.....

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Originally Posted by Gecko Den

Be thankful that she didn't tell him he should bash them in with a hammer; she's sweet like that.....

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What say we try and keep this on the friendly side of family friendly? If we keep things that way from the start it might avoid problems further down the road.:)


dr del

In my experience, rescues usually come from pet stores orginally and petstores buy entire clutches at a time. Since she is gravid, she was obviously near or with a male, probably either at the pet store or the previous got a 'deal' when buying two and housed together. Even if that is not the case, you really have no idea who the father is and with the gene pool of beardies being with it is, not to mention the market, hatching completely unknowns is a bit of a dee-dee-dee. lol.

I just felt your suggestion to be over-the-top with the information that was provided by the original poster.

-Evan

I'm sorry if i offended anyone, that's just been my experiences and advice [given to me] when dealing with the same problems in the past.

I guess I should have added some info on the rescue. I got her from a friend who work at Petco. This particular store has a decent herp section. He sold the BD to a lady about 2 years ago. She only had the one lizard, and it was well kept. I introduced the female BD to my wife's male BD about 30 to 40 days ago, so the math kinda works out. I was able to go out and get the needed stuff to make a good sized laying box for her that night. I left her in the laying boxed overnight, and she dug in the box like a mad woman. She kept me up most of the night. The next morning she had covered up her hole and was ready to get out. That afternoon I was able to dig the eggs up and move them to a incubator. She layed 22 eggs that night :eek: and I felt no more lumps in her belly. I plan on candling the eggs after 1 week to check for fertile eggs. I'll update when I know more.

I took no offense to any of the comments made. I should have given more information when I made the original post. Sorry for causing some confusion.

Congrats on the eggs! Keep us posted on their progress. How is mom doing by the way?

-Evan

The mom is doing good. Her appetite has return full force. She dives face first into the greens. The temps in the incubator holding nicely, but I'm not sure what the ideal humidity is. The caresheets I find doesn't give my a target to try to maintain so I water the substrate in the box when I think it needs it. I add a little water when the substate seems dry to the touch. I'm careful not to get any water on the eggs tho.