Were given two Bearded Dragon, "both female" For the last several months acted as if mating. Last week we found one of them dead. Last night the other one was lethargic. Went into her cave. Usually basking in the light. She was so still I was worried we were going to lose her. I touched her and she moved so let be. Later she was up and about as usual. Upon checking the cave there were 28 eggs. "We" were not expecting. I have raised many animals and hatched chickens and ducks. Googled Bearded Dragon reproduction & ended up on your site. Quickly threw together an incubator to your specs. Moved the eggs to the incubator. 24 hours later we have 25 "Skin eggs." 3 broken. Humidity high. Hypocalcemia. Only parts of shell on eggs. All but 2 appear OK. Draped them with a loose weave, damp cloth. temp. 85 degrees. Can they thrive. dbh
RE: Bearded dragon eggs w/o shells, and a question on an ex-stud.
Update: Perhaps I was bit premature. I am pretty sure we have lost two and one is questionable. Seems the skin turned white over night and, yes they did swell to twice their size. So I believe we will come away with at least 22. One egg is very large compared to the rest of them. Thank you.
RE: Bearded dragon eggs w/o shells, and a question on an ex-stud.
One week later - Update. The placing of a loose weave cloth over the eggs in the incubator seems to be doing the trick of keeping the humidity high and the eggs hydrated. I have been changing cloths and washing them to prevent an infection. The eggs are swollen and firm. Now it is pretty evident which ones are viable and the ones that are not. From the first 28 we lost three to broken or torn shell sacs at birth. As time has passed we feel we have 17 or 18 viable candidates. Some have not expanded at all and are hard and shriveled. All the other's seem to have a healthy, at least to me, yellow-y - pinkish - cream color. Shells intact and expanding. I place two old butter tubs with water in the incubator plus, if you know what an Earth Box is, you will know what I am describing. I have a very small piece of pvc pipe that goes from the outside of the incubator down under the sand. This way I can add water to the soil as needed to keep it moist underneath the eggs. Whenever I to temp check I pick up the cloth and rinse and re-saturate it warm water and replace. I also have a spray mister that I spray the eggs and when the cloth has been replaced I heavily mist the cloth. Temp is steady between 83 and 87. All seems well at present. If I even get one I will be thrilled. Never tried reptile incubation before but not much different form chickens or ducks.
I do have a question if someone knows. She is back in the original cave that she gave birth in. We have two in the terrarium. She is always in the light or on top of the cave. She sleeps all flattened out and stretched out in the clearing. I have had dogs and cat with multiple wombs before. The vets have told me in the past we have had litters and then a week later another litter depending upon which womb was fertilize first and upon rebreed several days later that litter was born. No she just had a big meal of crickets and greens. AAAANNNNDDDdddd I is back in the birthing cave. Should I be preparing for another delivery???