Emergency - Bearded Dragon Laying Eggs!!!!

ZakT · #1 (**permalink**) 31-08-2008, 11:24 PM

Please - can somebody help me out there!!!!

We have a 2 year old Bearded Dragon. We took her to our local reptile shop on 28th July when we went on holiday and they asked if we had thought about breeding - we hadn't!

Anyway - they put her in with a male for no more than 30 seconds. It was so traumatic (for me!!!) that I told them to take her out.

Tonight - she is laying eggs - 5 so far and counting.........

PLEASE tell me what I should do!

This is my son's lizard - he is excited, I am traumatised!!!!

Any help would be appreciated.

Jx

HadesDragons · #2 (**permalink**) 31-08-2008, 11:31 PM

This is a short piece I wrote a few months back that covers the basics:

Quote:

Once mated, a female will usually lay a clutch of eggs after 4 weeks of being gravid. She will usually eat a lot more than usual during this time. Another clutch usually follows around 4 weeks after that. I use a washing up bowl full of damp sand for the females to lay in.

Eggs need incubating at between 82-86f. Don't turn them at any time - be careful when transferring them to the incubator, as they are quite fragile. The exact temperature isn't important (as long as it's within the range), but it is important that it stays the same - once you've picked a temperature, stick to it. Humidity should be fairly high, but not so high that condensation forms above the line of vermiculite / perlite that you are using for incubation. Getting a line of condensation level with the top of the substrate should give you optimal humidity. Given that your female will probably lay a second clutch before the first one, you may need two incubators. If you buy ready-made ones, they can cost up to £100 each.

At 84f, the hatch time is usually around 7-9 weeks - in some cases eggs can go over 100 days before they hatch though, so don't give up on any eggs until they're clearly dead and going off. Babies will poke their heads out of the egg, and rest for up to 24 hours before breaking their way fully out.

Once out, they need leaving in the incubator for 24 hours, in individual tubs, with high humidity. This lets them absorb their yolk sacs fully; if they can't do this, they may be slower to grow.

They need housing in groups of five at the most; any more than this, and you run the risk of toe / tail nips. Each group of five needs a full setup - heat and UV. This is where most of your money will go; the second clutch will hatch before you can sell the first. As average clutches are usually 20-30 eggs, you need to prepare for up to 60 babies; that means 12 full setups, 12 UV tubes, 12 UV controllers etc. You might want to work out how much it will cost you to house the babies before you even consider breeding...

Babies need feeding 2-3 times per day, and can eat up to 50 crickets each per day. This is where the rest of your money will go - you have to feed up to 60 hungry babies for the next 6 weeks. Believe me, they eat a lot of crickets. A lot of food means lots of poo - up to twice a day depending on the baby, so they need cleaning out at least once a day. That's 12 full cleans per day, as well as 24-36 feedings (2-3 per cage...)

You will probably make a loss the first time you breed - the amount you sell the babies for is unlikely to cover the cost of the housing and food you need to buy, let alone the time you have to spend looking after them. If you're not going to be around during the day, it will be very hard to make sure they get enough food. Depending on the level of demand in your area, you may struggle to sell the babies to people - I know people who have not been able to sell all of their babies until they were 3 months old; they had to pay for food etc for that whole time. If you decide to sell to petshops, make sure you check them out first and are happy with them. You should also expect to receive a lot less per baby if you sell them to a shop (£15-£20 each, compared with £25-£30 each privately). If you work out what it will cost you, not including equipment, you will struggle to cover your costs if they are sold for £15 each. Remember to take into account the electricity that 12 setups will use during the 6 weeks that the babies are with you...

Incubating the eggs is something you should do only if you're certain you can provide for the babies; the number of beardies out there missing body parts is testimony to the number of cases where owners aren't prepared / able to provide what the babies need. If you don't think you can provide what the eggs need, the safest way to dispose of them is to freeze them overnight to ensure they are dead (at this stage, the "baby" is only a few cells in a ball - it has no feelings etc).

Feel free to drop me a PM if you have any specific questions.

Andy

Meltos · #3 (**permalink**) 31-08-2008, 11:31 PM

Thats shocking, the Pet shop had no right to breed her without your permission.

Right, Provide a nesting area, although if shes aready started laying, Then just her get on with it, cover the front of the vivarium, to make it less stressful for her. And once the eggs have been laid, dispose of them.

Thats shocking from the pet shop. I would go in and expect an apology of some sort.

ZakT · #4 (**permalink**) 31-08-2008, 11:34 PM

Can you tell me how long, on average, it takes for a Bearded Dragon to lay her clutch of eggs please.

ZakT · #5 (**permalink**) 31-08-2008, 11:36 PM

Whilst she is laying these eggs - should the heat lamp be left on or off??? We have turned the UV light off.

As you can tell - we are totally clueless here and appreciate any help you can give us.

HadesDragons · #6 (**permalink**) 31-08-2008, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZakT

Can you tell me how long, on average, it takes for a Bearded Dragon to lay her clutch of eggs please.

"As long as it takes"...

From start to finish it's usually under an hour or so (although to be honest I've never timed it exactly!), although you can get females that take longer to get them all out. She may spend a fair bit of time burying the eggs - they do a really good job of it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZakT

Whilst she is laying these eggs - should the heat lamp be left on or off??? We have turned the UV light off.

As you can tell - we are totally clueless here and appreciate any help you can give us.

If the light was on when she started laying I'd be tempted to leave it on for her - the last thing you want is her getting cold / tired half way through!

ZakT · #7 (**permalink**) 31-08-2008, 11:44 PM

What would you advise me to do in the morning? Take them to the reptile shop? They are able to incubate them there.

If we do take them to the reptile shop - should we keep them warm?????

HadesDragons · #8 (**permalink**) 31-08-2008, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZakT

What would you advise me to do in the morning? Take them to the reptile shop? They are able to incubate them there.

If we do take them to the reptile shop - should we keep them warm?????

You could do - did you agree to them breeding her? If not you may want to take the eggs to another reptile shop...

It's not too hard to make your own incubator out of a poly box, pulse stat and heat mat if you have them spare / can buy them first thing. That's if you wanted to have a go at hatching them yourself, and have enough spare time / money to raise the babies.

Overnight I'd be tempted to put them in a tuppaware container with some warm, damp sand / perlite / vermiculite in the bottom and put that in a warm airing cupboard / boiler room etc. Anywhere between 80f-90f should be fine for them overnight (so gecko cages / snake cages etc would do as a last resort as long as they're healthy and the eggs are in a secure container etc)

NikkiB · #9 (**permalink**) 01-09-2008, 02:33 PM

how are you getting on, any more news?

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