# Help!!!my bearded has laid 21 eggs!



## moon63 (Oct 1, 2008)

Hi All,
my bearded laid 24 eggs yesterday,sadly she squashed 3,i haven't got a proper incubator and looking at the price i dont think i will buy one.
What i have done so far is, i've use my other 2ft viv put a heat mat in and a basking light 100,ive placed the eggs in slight damp vermiculite in a plastic containers with the lid resting on top with pierced holes in.Daytime i can keep the temp to 30degrees but last night having turned off the light it dropped to 20...
As a novice am i doing okay ?i would at least love to have one hatch! oh by the way she was my sons lizard but ive been left with it,so all advice would be most appreciated 
many thanks


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## Hannah81 (Nov 19, 2008)

First off - Has it copulated with a male dragon? Cos if not then the eggs will not be fertile and you won't get any hatchlings out of them. They will start to go bad within a week.

If you have a male they are together I would seperate them now so they can't keep breeding. The female will want a bit of tlc for a while as well.

You also need to keep the temperature constant 84F and humidity about 80%, a significant reduction every night will kill the eggs. The air holes will probably reduce your humidity so I'd shut the box and cover the holes over. Open the box every few days to exchange air.

Incubators are easy to make with a poly box and a heatmat run on a pulse stat.


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## Antw23uk (Jan 12, 2009)

Put the eggs in the freezer (if she has been with a male) leave for 24 hours and then throw them in the bin.

There are enough of these poor creatures desperate for homes up and down the country without adding to the problem of hatching more :whistling2:

Have a read of this ..... It's written by my friend Rick....

Just for those of you who have/are getting a pair of dragons “…because it would be nice to try breeding…..”. 

This year we have hatched 57 babies, these are from 1 female who laid 3 clutches fertilized during one period of mating. This is not unusual and it is possible to get 25~30 eggs per clutch with some females. 
With this number of eggs you need a reasonably sized incubator somewhere where you can check it regularly to see the eggs are healthy, developing well and in due course (between 55 & 90 days +/-) hatching. This is where the fun starts as within 3~5 days they will begin eating, so you need to prepare finely diced vegetables daily, plus of course, crickets, probably 7 boxes a week for one clutch. Once they’ve had their first feed in the morning you of course then have to clean the droppings out of the viv. (healthy well fed babies seem to be able to go twice a day!) Mid morning or very early afternoon comes the second feed of the day, with a possible 3rd feed around 3~4 pm if they’re still hungry. Having put around 20 babies in a 4ft viv. after a couple of weeks you’ll need to split them into two lots as they’ll be squabbling over food and growing at different rates – so now you need 2 vivs. 3~4 weeks after the first hatching the second lot will hatch and as a RESPONSIBLE owner you WILL NOT have sold the first babies because they need to be around 8 weeks old to have a real chance of survival at the hands of a newbie. 

So …., now you have another 20 odd babies and need another viv., in fact another 2 because they also will have to be separated before the first clutch goes. Here you call for the bank manager, as you need a loan to cover the additional crickets needed to feed the ever increasing horde. Thankfully just before the third clutch hatch you sell the first to your local pet shop, who up ‘til now you have castigated for their lack of reptile knowledge and the generally poor conditions in which their stock is kept. They however only give you around 10~15% of their retail price which means that the cost of food and general maintenance has only just been covered. 

That sale has cleared 2 vivs and your last clutch are now hatching, trouble is that you held back a few slow growth babies in one viv, this means that you need another one!! Back to the bank for a 2nd mortgage, that’s OK though because you won’t have time for any holidays until they’ve all gone, which will be in the region of 18 weeks after the first hatching.

All because you thought it would be cute to try breeding your beardies….. of course you can be lucky as in the first year it’s not unusual for a female to only have 1 or 2 small clutches (you hope).

We currently have a food bill around $120.00 per week, 5 vivs. 2 incubators and only 44 babies, having sold 13 two weeks ago.


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## Kuja (Dec 14, 2011)

As far as how to hatch etc that has been covered i believe, however are you sure you can afford to keep the(at best) 21 babies? they are going to need a huge viv and will need to be split as they get bigger and older, the food is going to be expensive and you have a high chance of not being able to sell them or even give them away.

With that said i can understand how nice it would be to have babies but i honestly don't think its going to be worth your time, if you want some babies hold some of them back and hatch just a few.

I know if i was in your situation id probs hatch a few but not all of them  

good luck anyway, and all of this is working on the assumption the female has actually done the dirty with another one lol, if there has never been a male then you got nothing to worry about


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## moon63 (Oct 1, 2008)

Thank you for the advice,i understand the work involved,there was a male dragon but sadly he died a few weeks ago they were together 6years...looking at some of the eggs some look a bit dented and off colour and she was pushing them about in the viv trying to bury them,so really not sure if any will survive...i shall see how it goes.

kind Regards


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## AraCyanea (May 30, 2011)

Get a torch in a dim room, and put the egg on the light, and you'll get that red tint thing like you'd do if you do it with your finger, and you will be able to tell if it's fertile as you'll see vine like things inside the egg.

That's if you want to keep any though. If not, freezer method is best option.


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