arm waving beardie

[ekpepper]

does a female beardie tend to arm wave more when she is gravid more so than at any other time?

[howieherp]

the arm waving is usually a sign of submisiveness(OMG I CANT SPELL) do yo have a male beardie?

[HadesDragons]

Not necessarily.

When housed with a male during very early stages of pregnancy she will continue to behave as normal to him. Before she lays her eggs she may become more aggressive and stressed by him being there; in that case, she may arm wave less to him.

[ekpepper]

we do have a male in with her and it has been 3 months since she laid her last clutch of eggs. the bottom part of her belly is a bit lower than normal but i cant see or feel any eggs which is why i asked about the arm waving as she is doing this a bit more than normal?

[HadesDragons]

You need to separate her and the male.

She's already bred once this year, and it's unhealthy for them to breed more than once in a year. A single breeding may result in 2-3 clutches of eggs. If she's armwaving, it may be that the male is starting to make moves on her again / being dominant. How many clutches did she lay last time?

[ekpepper]

she only laid one clutch of 23 last time but i've since heard that it is rare for them to lay only 1 clutch and the 2nd clutch comes about a month after. should she not have laid again already from the first mating as it has been 3 months now? shall i separate the male and put her laying tub in with her just in case even tho she doesn't look like she has eggs?

[HadesDragons]

It's possible that it will take more than a month; it's rare though...

I'd separate her for another month or so, give her a lay box etc - just to make sure there isn't another clutch on the way. If she hasn't laid eggs by then and you wanted her to breed again this year, you should be ok (assuming she's large and in good condition) putting the male with her for another week, then separating them for good. All being well, she will lay another couple of clutches, taking her up to 3 for the year. A female in good condition should be able to cope with that - just be aware that you should then give her a year or so to recover from it, so you wouldn't be able to breed from her again until next summer.

If you don't want any more babies this year, then just split them up, give her a laybox, and watch her closely for any signs of her wanting to lay etc.