Different behavior from our Bearded

[Danomano]

Hello All

so we had a couple discoveries... First one being it turns out our male isnt a male but in fact a female. So now to move on to the behavior. She is digging all over the place to include completely burying her food dish. From what I have been reading she could be wanting to lay eggs. Any recommendations on building a nesting box of sorts. I have heard and read to use vermiculite. I saw home depot in the garden center sells a product named this. Is it the same thing?

[Sita]

The vermiculite is for incubating the eggs afterward, if they are fertile, which it sounds like these will not be. For a lay box, you can use a plastic bin at least twice her length and fill it with organic potting soil (make sure it has NO fertilizers or additives!), play sand, eco earth, or a mixture of these. You need it at least 4-5 inches deep, and wet enough that it clumps together so she can tunnel a bit, but not so wet it's soggy. If it fits in her enclosure, you can put it in there, or you can put her in it when you see her digging and leave her be for a while. You can have a heat lamp on her in the tub, but make sure an area of the tub is darkened. They really like their privacy when they lay. Be sure you're dusting her food with calcium several times a week, as she'll be needing it.

[Danomano]

Thank you. This certainly caught us by surprise. Oh well. I guess I don't have to look for a lady friend for Draco anymore lol

[Danomano]

Put a bed of sand down for her. Laid 9 eggs. I will leave the sand in place for a couple more days just in case. All of the eggs were infertile which was expected.

[Sita]

Good idea, they sometimes do go back and lay more, not often I don't think but sometimes. Our beardie we have now was surrendered to us as a "male", which we suspected was untrue, but the way her tail was shaped and her overall chubbiness made it really hard to say for certain. A couple weeks after we got her, she started digging, but before we could get a box set up for her, she dumped 16 eggs under one of her hides. She had been kept alone since the previous owner got her as a baby, so we knew they were infertile. She became much sweeter to us after that, and is now an educational animal for our reptile society!