#19147

 Ok, I have no Idea What To Do!

This is a panic message. I left my Beardies 3 of them (Loki(M) 18Mths Old, Skadi (F), 7-8 Mths Old, and Odin (M), 8 Mths Old {has both eyes ;)} in what I "thought" was responsible hands, meaning my family. I recently had to go on a scholarship trip to Florida, I live in Kansas. I learned that for almost the entire 2 weeks I was gone they let my younger sister put the all 3 of the Beardies in the same cage to see if they got along alright. Now Skadi, is either really obese or she is pregnant. She is NOT READY and I know this. I am panicking because she just keeps getting bigger? Could it be something else? Constipation? No? I don’t know what to do I don’t want to lose her. She’s the loving one ;). Is there anyone who could help me I dont mind you emailing me. I went to a local pet store, where I got Loki from, and although I didn’t take Skadi with me, they told me it sounded like she was pregnant. What do I do???

 #19154

 Ok, I have no Idea What To Do!

Hey Wicked, Have you been checking if your female going to the bathroom, you can try soaking her in warm water for about 20 minutes. She if she goes in there. If she is pregnant you should be able to feel a bunch of lumps in her stomach. Although this isn’t always all that accurate depending on the experience with an egg bearing bearded dragon. I would try giving her a bath and gently feeling her stomach for bumpbs. If by then you can’t figure out what is wrong you shoudl take her to a vet. Honestly you should take your dragons to the vet atleast once to get a fecal done and make sure they do not have parasites regardless of your situation now. Alot of dragons that come from petshops carry parasites. Let me know if you have any more questons. PE

 #19266

 Ok, I have no Idea What To Do!

Thanks for the info, I will see if the vet my father takes his dog to also does reptiles. I had to take Loki once to a vet for an exam over his stool being runny over a week, I kinda freaked out. I figured it out that I shouldn’t change his diet and a daily basis. I will feel her for lumps I haven’t touched her yet, she seems kinda "pissy" and I didn’t want to endanger anything w/o information. But if you say a bath and some TLC might help I’m all for it.

 #19300

 Ok, I have no Idea What To Do!

Alright, I felt her abdomen and gave her a bath. Bath helped her use the RR like I thought it would do, but she is still too big. She is bigger than the male and is younger. There are "lumps" on one side of her abdomen but I can’t feel any distinct lumps on the other side but I don’t want to press too hard. She flared her beard at me lol when I was just rubbing the other side. I think she has a clutch in her and I know she is too young and I have no idea what to do! How long are they pregnant should I start preparing?? Incubator? A site to lay her eggs? I need help! I wasn’t ready for breeding yet. I wanted to but I wanted to wait till she matured. Also, my other male Odin is about half her size normally why is his growth being stunted?

 #19363

 Ok, I have no Idea What To Do!

Are you sure it is a female? Males have lumps on one side of their abdomen (testes). I recently found this out because one of my males got really thin and I could feel them really easily, it felt like an obstruction so I took him to the vet. I came home and felt all of my males and they all have these lumps on their right side if facing away from you. Just an idea?

 #19427

 Ok, I have no Idea What To Do!

If it is a clutch expect eggs about 2-4wks after mating, when I felt mine she layed about 1 1/2wks later. Make sure she gets more calcium, you can buy it at pet store repti-cal phos free fine dust, you can sprinkle on any of her food it’s ok if the male gets some. With crickets just do like shake and bake. You really want it increase calcium prior to mating to improve shells durability. I used about 1 1/2 deep container filled with a mix of moist potting soil mixed with the sand you use for their substrate, and kept digging a hole in same spot to give her idea, she had no problem getting the idea and used that same spot. asap get in incubator, use hobavator about $45.00 bought it from a farmers grain elevator, mine has no fan reg temp 81-84 some say 86 max use a gauge to check humidity desire 90-100% I used perlite moistened and squeeze out excess water I bought mini-glad 1/2cup storage with lids, drill several holes in top sides place perlite in make 1-1 1/2 inch hole and place egg in exactly how you found it in soil mark x with pencil to identify the top. gently lay in the hole you made and put lid on. I was told not to handle more than 1x/wk desirably not very often cause your oils can change integrity of shell keep lid on as much as poss try to visualize through window of hobavator that decreases the chance of bacteria ect. from getting in. well that’s a great start hope all goes well ps they will hatch between 55-60 days after laid. oh yeah she may seem sluggish and not eat as well right before and after very hungry and thirsty i gave mine baths before and after to help keep her well hydrated she loved it.

 #19665

 Ok, I have no Idea What To Do!

Thank you Jewel, I already dust my cricks with Repti-Cal, been doing it on their first feeding of every day. I got the UVB lamp, it burned out recently but will have another for X-MAS gift. I was going to make an incubator out of an old microwave. I’m going to be an electrical and computer engineer, in college right now, figured it could be a project. But I wasn’t ready for breeding so the rest of your information is a great help. I haven’t read anything, if anyone knows any tutorials to read or is this a kind of wing-it thing? I wouldn’t think so, at least its too serious for me to just wing-it so maybe a website, I built her cage, she loves the rabbit wire on the side I will see if I can get a picture or two up of her to show everyone what she looks like.

 #19678

 Ok, I have no Idea What To Do!

others have posted additional links re: building incubator, breeding, ect. I don’t remember which messages just scroll through and look for similar postings. as far winging it everyone i’ve spoke with has a little diff idea of what’s best. I quess it’s whatever works best for you and your bd and eggs. This is my 1st clutch, there will be things I’ll change slightly the next time. good luck

 #19987

 Ok, I have no Idea What To Do!

Alright now, someone brought up a valid point here at the house. She has been "obese" for nigh a month now? I didn’t really think she was pregnant so I just now put the egg-laying area in? Would she hold the eggs in her if she had nowhere to lay? Or is it i have a really "obese" lizard due to some unkown reason when I come back from vacation?

 #19989

 Ok, I have no Idea What To Do!

And my mother has another point. She is fat but it is wide I mean her stomach really doesn’t dip down to the earth but if you look at her from the top down or down top she looks like a bottleneck. But from the side she looks like my other dragons not really a big stomach as you would think if she was pregnant? If she isn’t pregnant what happened to make her so fat?

 #19991

 Ok, I have no Idea What To Do!

well i am no expert on this one but if she is like that she probably isn’t pregnant. I keep myb two bd’s in a 55gallon and they are2 months old it often takes more than just one time to get a girl pregnant.

 #20008

 Ok, I have no Idea What To Do!

If she is pregnant, most females will just drop eggs any where in the cage. You will notice her digging profusely. I probably wouldn’t try to incubate the eggs on the first batch. I would wait for the next clutch where you can be better prepared with an incubator, baby tanks, and 1000’s of crickets a week, and providing the extra nutrition and calcium for a pregnant female. But just in case she is pregnant and drops eggs...get a bin big enough for her to fit comfortably in and fill it about 3-4 inches with vermiculite or perlite. Moisten the substrate down till it is soaked, but not swampy. After she lays the eggs(if she is pregnant) you will need some bins like sandwich bins filled with the same consistancy as the egg laying bin. With my finger I make dimples in the egg bin substrate where each egg will go. Gently scoop away the substrate to get to the eggs. Be careful not to turn the eggs as you move them to the egg bin. From there I keep mine incubating at 82-84f. Humidity around 90%, I have had as low as 70, in which I moisten the substrate without geting water on the eggs. I do not cover my egg bins with a lid as others mention. I use a Harbavotor incubator. You can definately make your own. You can use a 10 gallon fish tank, fill it a few inches with water, put two bricks down to hold a "shelf" which will contain the egg bins. Use a fish tank heater in the water below and adjust to you get proper temps. Cover the top of the tank with a tank cover. One warning is the "shelf" you use...make sure it has sides high enough that babies can’t escape and drown...I find babies all over the place in my incubator. The incubator most of use are styrofoam with a small heater and holes poked into the styrofoam...nothing technical and probably not worth the $45 we pay. You probably could make a nice incubator out of an old microwave. I seen some places use an old refridgerator. Good Luck and let us know if you have any more questions. PE

 #20355

 About 160 kB total image to load.

Ok here we go. I have some pics of her. And I bought the stuff to make an incubator but I have a thermostat that was made for a house digital too would this work? I may be training to be an electrical engineer but my word it doesn’t have a transfer function, schematics or anything just idiot instructions on how to replace the one you have w/ it? Will it work or do I need a different format? Well look at the pics of Skadi and don’t be shy to give your opinion I must warn you though this is as skinny as she gets? I keep her well fed but not overly she eats about half a dozen crickets a day and her Veggies and Fortified food (she only eats when she’s really hungry) but the sizes are different because of the zoom. This was before I fed her crickets, her first choice, besides mealworms (treats every 2 months or so). This is Skadi:

 #20357

 About 160 kB total image to load.

Ok if the photos didn’t work w/ you guys either...sorry. I don’t have the webspace I used to and had to use geocities. To get them to show up go to: Pic 1 Pic 2 Pic 3 Pic 4

 #20358

 About 160 kB total image to load.

Oh FORGET IT! GEOCITIES SUCKS w/ outside link references copy and paste these into your URL! http://www.geocities.com/lord_rampage/liz1.jpg http://www.geocities.com/lord_rampage/liz2.jpg http://www.geocities.com/lord_rampage/liz3.jpg http://www.geocities.com/lord_rampage/liz4.jpg I hate Geocities almost as much as I hate Best Buy! If you’d be kind enough to copy and paste those links in your Url they will work in the forum after you do that.

 #20686

 Is She Pregnant?

Can anyone tell? I don’t know if she is pregnant or not, I put her in a seperate area w/ plenty of 50/50 solution potting soil to sand. But she hasn’t dug anything, she did something weird not to long ago in her own cage. She usually sleeps on the wire part hanging, I know she’s a nut but she’s so cute. She’s done that since she was little. Then b4 I put her in her seperate cage she started sleeping on the bottom of the cage in a corner w/ the driftwood? Maybe some hidden crickets she sees? I don’t know