When Will She Lay!!!

reptilez · 07-15-03, 06:46 PM

Its been about a month or so since i noticed that my female beadie was getting big in the belly, with eggs. She hangs out in her egg-laying box almost all day. I have to take her out to eat her greens. Is this Normal?

Are there any signs that she will show that she is going to lay in the next couple of days or something?? she used to dig and dig and dig, now she just sits/lays there. Can anybody help me? Please!
-Reptilez

eyespy · 07-16-03, 12:17 AM

That laying around after trying to dig is somewhat worrisome. I'd get her to a vet to be sure she's not eggbound. Two to four weeks is the normal gestation period with egg bulges visible about halfway through and it sounds like she's close to the upper limit or possibly even gone past.

reptilez · 07-16-03, 09:15 AM

is there any particular that might cause her to become Egg-Bound?

eyespy · 07-16-03, 06:19 PM

Low blood calcium is the most common cause but can be all sorts of issues. If the eggs are wider than her oviduct she'll have difficulty passing them. She could be too exhausted to have normal contractions, she is having unproductive contractions that are just squeezing the eggs rather than moving them downwards and outwards. She might have a mineral deficiency or dehydration that are preventing the shell gland from putting the outer shell membrane on the eggs. There could be a hormonal imbalance that isn't triggering the next stage of laying. She might be lacking in important amino acids needed to form the egg whites and so the egg follicles are still attached to her ovaries.

Only a vet can help most of those things. I'd try a warm soak, and if that doesn't stimulate laying get her to a vet as soon as possible. Should the eggs rupture or rot she will die.

Dragon_Slave · 07-16-03, 07:00 PM

Yikes! Eyespy, there are so many things that can go wrong! Makes me scared to breed!

eyespy · 07-17-03, 05:30 AM

Good husbandry practices minimize many of these potential problems. It's very important to give sexually mature females a varied and nutritious diet for 2 or 3 months before allowing them to breed, and to minimize stress while they are gravid. Many people wait until they are already gravid to "powerfeed" and that's rather too late. They can't build up the nutrient reserves they need to see them through the gestation period that way.

Just caging gravid females alone gets rid of a lot of the stress-related hormonal issues. Females can be very territorial when they are full of reproductive hormones, sometimes even more so than males. Making sure that nobody else can get to their preferred nesting site gets rid of those potential problems.

Dragon_Slave · 07-17-03, 06:39 AM

Eyespy,
Thanks for that information. When I finally DO breed my dragons(probably sometime next year) I will remember not to ''power feed''. Also, she WILL be living in a seperate cage from the male and only introduced to the male when it's time to breed. Of course, I'm not 100% sure of the sex of my dragon but the two breeders she is coming from(TODAY!) looked at her and said she ''looks like a female''... so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Again, thank you eyespy for that GREAT information!