# Bearded Dragon Digging After Laying



## thigham (Jun 16, 2013)

Hey, 

So I got s rescue bearded dragon about 5 weeks ago. She had been abondoned in a park. I had no previous experience with Bearded dragons and I'm a complete novice. I only have a crestie gecko to learn from. 

Turns out about 1 week ago she started digging frantically and I did my research and concluded that she might be gravid with infertile eggs as I haven't housed her with a male and she did not appear fat etc. Every day I put her in a lay box outside her actual viv and she just wouldn't lay. Two days ago I found her laying in her viv which only has your general 2 inches of substrate, which obviously is not very suitable. I didn't want to disturb her as she had already layed a fair few eggs. She finished laying after around 30-40 mins and had a clutch of 18. 

This was a big enough shock but then I discovered that 10 of them were fertile. I was so so scared and didn't know what to do, so I set up a home made incubator quickly. The remaining 8 were definitely infertile so I had disposed of them - by freezing them first just to be sure. 

Now my Beardie, Buddy, is still digging in her viv in the corner constantly 2 days after laying. Why is this? Is it too soon for her to be preparing for the 2nd clutch isnt it? And I don't even know if she had layed any clutched previous to this one, which may have led to her being abandoned. 

I would really appreciate help on this as me and my boyfriend can't seem to find anything online! 

Ps. The eggs are incubated at around 80%-90% humidity and at 27 degrees Celsius at the moment.


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## luke123 (Apr 13, 2008)

You shouldn't have put her in a separate box to lay her eggs, you should have put a box in her home for her to lay the eggs, I used a washing up bowl filled with damp sand  in a couple of weeks I'd put one in because she will more than likely lay another clutch.

Have you considered bringing up the babies? It costs an awful lot and you'll be lucky if you get £5/£10 each, which probably wouldn't even pay for one of the two tanks you'll need for 10 babies.. As you know many are unwanted just like the poor one you've rehomed, so just consider if you want to bring more up


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## thigham (Jun 16, 2013)

There is so many different laying ideas all over Youtube and the rest of the internet. I've done the washing up bowl method now to try and get her to dig. Any ideas why she is digging this soon after laying? 

We think we already have 3 buyers who would be willing to pay £20-£30 which is pretty darn good!


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## luke123 (Apr 13, 2008)

It may not actually be anything to do with the eggs, some beardies simply like digging.. It could also be due to the temperatures in the vivarium, if it's too hot then they may start to dig. The weather outside has been hot so this would more than likely explain it.

You shouldn't be expecting another clutch for another 2-3 weeks now, so you need to make sure you're feeding her lots and dusting everything with calcium so that she can produce the eggs  she may not even lay a second clutch - this may not have been the first anyway since she was 'wild' for however long.

If you get £20-£30 then that would be great! Just make sure you research because it really is expensive, and even at that much you probably wouldn't cover the food and setups. Just advice, it's great bringing up the babies but it's just so expensive!


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