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+--- Thread: Bearded dragon eggs w/o shells, and a question on an ex-stud. (/Thread-Bearded-dragon-eggs-w-o-shells-and-a-question-on-an-ex-stud)
Bearded dragon eggs w/o shells, and a question on an ex-stud. - ArmyOfDreams - 05-24-2012
So I work at my university in the science department. Some of you may have picked up on this, but there's a former professor of the school who kept a lot of reptiles there (being that he's a herpetologist and all...), and atm his 3 bearded dragons (still in need of homes, I think) are still living there whilst he organizes his life and moves out, and for now they're part of my job. Two of them, a breeding pair, are kept in the same enclosure at all times; mostly for convenience, moreso than breeding. Today the female laid a whole 1 egg & defecated at the same time while I had her out of the enclosure to clean and replace newspaper etc, and the egg is like a little blob of cream colored jello. It doesn't have a shell.
Apparently last time she clutched about a month ago none of those eggs had shells either. I'm in limbo waiting for the owner to get back to me on what to do, but I am curious - I've separated the male from her and made a temporary damp nest for the single egg (then stuck it in a warm place); why doesn't it have a shell? Why did she only lay one and go back to basking? Will the egg hatch or die?
Second part is much shorter: there is a male adult dragon who was adopted as an ex-stud. Since he used to be a full-time breeder he was in pretty poor health but he has since thrived; he's become extremely territorial, picky, and stressed by any approach or noise (although he calms down once you pick him up). He refuses to eat greens or food pellets, which are his only options right now...ideas?
RE: Bearded dragon eggs w/o shells, and a question on an ex-stud. - Fishbone - 05-24-2012
Are you sure it is an "egg"? 1 egg is weird in and of itself, most clutches are 10 at the minimum. Could be very wet urates, especially if the animal was being poorly, high moisture greens with little nutritious value(iceberg, romaine, leaf lettuce, etc...). Eggs are laid very soft, and will harden. But that doesn't really sound like that. If she is hypocalcemic, she may have not had enough calcium to produce a proper shell. Do you have a picture of this? I'll ask around and see if anyone I know has seen anything like that. If it is an egg, there almost has to be more. If nothing else comes of this, you may want to check to see if she is eggbound. (Ultrasound is the easiest way, hopefully you have access to that at the school.)
If the males enclosure is good, (temps, basking, UVB, etc...) he just needs to be handled a bit more probably. He may have not seen greens and veggies much before, so you may have to tempt him, try some bugs on the greens, and try out different greens and veggies. "Curly" greens seem to entice them more, Mustard greens and endive especially, (not Belgian endive, you want curly endive, or frisée.) And any orange or red veggies, like butternut or carrot. Look over that list I linked to you before, and try different veggies until you find some things he likes.
RE: Bearded dragon eggs w/o shells, and a question on an ex-stud. - ArmyOfDreams - 05-24-2012
I am 90% sure it's not urates, because it is shaped like an egg and has a thin membrane covering. It's extremely bizarre and I'm almost positive something went wrong somewhere...she's not gravid and she didn't display any egg laying behaviors when I was there, but she's apparently pregnant. She might be hypocalcemic, it's real hard to give them a proper feeding multiple times every day when I live 20 minutes from the school. We do not have ultrasound but she'll be supervised as best we can, prof should be coming by soon to take a look
The spunky male has been here for a couple of years, I believe. I have no idea what his eating schedule was before but he won't eat supers unless he's alone, and I can sometimes get him to eat a leaf or two from my hands but after that he won't touch them. I'd love to experiment with his diet and get him more socialized, but it's a really slow process when I can't be around as often as it would take to truly fix it! He is getting a little better though, he's stopped running away and settles for puffing up all the time.
RE: Bearded dragon eggs w/o shells, and a question on an ex-stud. - Fishbone - 05-25-2012
I'm going by a large beardie breeders place later today so I am going to ask on the odd egg. I would think it was either laid to early, it didn't form properly, or a combination of both. From either the lack of calcium, stress, or a combination again. But, I have NEVER heard of a beardie with only 1 egg. I am sure it must have happened at some point. So there are probably more. If she rejected 1 that was unhealthy, it could be completely fine. She could also reabsorb them, this does happen, especially if she doesn't have enough calcium. But, if they are malformed, or she is having problems in other ways, stressed, etc... She could become egg bound, and that can be fatal. Do you have some form of veterinary school on campus or that you are affiliated with? I would think that may be he best bet to have her looked at. It is hard to tell you what is going on unfortunately.
As for the male, just try different greens. He sounds healthy. If he is the same room with the female, he could be "randy" too.
Try mustard greens if you can get them. Get a dish deep enough that the supers can't climb out of, put a thin layer of mustard greens (or whatever green you want to try, no lettuce), in there, torn into small pieces, /12" x 1/2" or smaller, and put a few supers on top. That is the first trick I try.
RE: Bearded dragon eggs w/o shells, and a question on an ex-stud. - ArmyOfDreams - 05-25-2012
So her first egg is infertile, and prof says that she'll probably lay more as the week goes on. We'll keep an eye on her but she seems fine for now...I don't know why but it would seem that she just doesn't have good luck with egg-laying (I don't think any of her last clutch hatched/matured).
I will try the trick with the supers on him; he's not kept in the same room as the other pair. I shall see if he can be convinced to eat food.