My bearded dragon just laid eggs! I thought it was male?

Question

We thought we had 2 males but apparently we were wrong. They are exposed to each other quite often but we never see them mate. I called the petshop where we got them about a year ago and they said it is likely we got 2 females and the eggs are infertile. They said we could bring them in tomorrow to have them sexed but what do I do about the eggs? If they are baby dragons I want them to be healthy and live but I don't know what to do. She is just digging and burrying like crazy...I only see 2 eggs but she may have some hidden elsewhere and I don't really want to disturb her too much. Help!

Answer 1

She knows what to do. Leave her alone. Don't take the mother to pet shop. You will know soon enough.

My 2 cents.

Hope there are babies. It will be too cool.

Answer 2

Welcome to the wacky world of reptile keeping!

It is not always easy to correctly s*x them and mistakes can happen (as you have found out)

Answer 3

let her be

Answer 4

just leave the eggs alone it can take months for them to hatch just leave them alone for a while and see what happends

Answer 5

Soon (if she hasn't already) the female will suddenly turn away from the eggs, disinterested.  This is when you can take them out.  

You can tell whether the eggs are fertile or not pretty easily.  Fertile are white and leathery, infertile are yellow and hard.  FYI, females usually lay 3-5 groups of 15-25 eggs.  If there are only two, I would take her to the vet to make sure that she isn't egg-bound.  

First, you need an incubator.  Since the eggs are here now, you are better off making one rather than ordering a hovabator incubator offline. Here are good directions to make your own:  http://www.reptilia.org/Education/Habita...

The incubator needs to be steady between 82-84 degrees, cooler will slow down the hatching time and hotter will kill the eggs.  You also want the humidity between 60-80%.  

When you move the eggs, it is vital that you not rotate or turn them in any way.  If you do, you can kill the eggs.  Put them in containers full of vermiculite that is wet enough to stick to your fingers but not so wet that it drips water out when you squeeze it.  Each egg should be placed in a depression you made in the vermiculite with your thumb.  

It takes an average of 55-75 days to hatch them, in which time you should be researching, because care of hatchlings is different, much more involved, than care of older Beardies.

As for the female, she needs extra UVB (get her a new bulb, and get her some time in the sun) and extra calcium dustings on her food (5 times a week), and extra-high nutrition food like Collard Greens, Sweet Potato, Mustard Greens, and Turnip Greens.  

Here is a page to get you started on researching care for the hatchlings:  http://beardeddragoncaresheet.weebly.com...