Pygmy BD will not lay her eggs

[porkosta]

Hi all,

My Pygmy BD will not lay her eggs. She has had them in her for a few weeks now but will not lay them. She will bury herself in the hides and under the sand mount and stay there for like a week or two then come out and still have the eggs in her. I can see/feel the eggs in her so I know they are there.
She also does slow style pushups when she is out and about - I'm not sure if that means anything.

I'm gonna try and take her out of the enclosure and put her in a big tub and leave her alone for a while. Should I put more sand in there or should I try something like peat moss?

Any help would be great.

Thanks,
Andy

 

[paulw6676]

Put her in her own enclosure with a 40 litre tub filled with sand and soil 1:1 ratio and make it moist and damp so if she digs it wont cave in. Take the male out of her enclosure and put a towel over the glass front. You may have to move the lay box around the enclosure to get it the right temps. My female layed 4 eggs on the 17th of november and still has more to come but wont lay so im taking her to the vet today. I would have thought your female would be egg bound by now with it been 2 weeks.

 

[falconboy]

Give her a warm bath too.

 

[Kyro]

I'd definately try putting her in a tub on her own with some damp sand. We had one fussy girl that wouldn't lay so I puther in a tub of sand & went out for 2 hours, came home & she had layed.

 

[porkosta]

Thanks guys I will try that.
How do I tell if she is egg bound? What should I do then?

 

[paulw6676]

She will probably die, thats all i know. You might want to get her vet checked.

 

[CodeRed]

They normally dont lay for a few reasons:

1. Too stressed out. Normally from cage mates, but could also be from human disturbance.
2. Now where suitable to lay. Make sure you give her plenty of choices of where to lay. An all sand substrate gives the most options. Make a damp area near (but not right under) the heat source and another damp area in a cooler spot.
3. Too cold. Sounds like your girl could be too cold if she is hiding for extended periods.
4. Not fed up enough or too young. Smaller females seem to hold on to their eggs for a long time. Ofer lot of calcium dusted food. Best not to mate them until they are at least 100 grams.

I wouldnt move her into a new cage as this will probably add to the stress. Just try correcting whats wrong with the current setup first.

 

[porkosta]

Thanks Guys. She over two years old... She shouldn't be to cold because there is constant heat emitters on. I will remove my other Pygmy BD and leave her in there alone. The enclosure does not have a lot of human traffic and it's not exposed to loud noises.
There is also multiple places for her to dig as the sand is at least 10cm deep and almost double that on one side as there is a mount that she buried into.

 

[adz83]

id prob head to the vet just to be on the safe side...im sure ud feel better knowing a bit more bout wats gooin on eh

 

[porkosta]

Hey guys just an update. Went to the vet yesterday afternoon and he has me monitoring her for the next week. He has me giving her liquid calcum and electrolyte drink (powerade type drink) daily.
She has been on her own since the weekend because I have taken the male out so she can do what she wants.
If she has not layed her eggs by next week then the vet said that we may need to operate to get them out.

I'll keep you posted.
Cheers,
Andy

 

[CodeRed]

I wouldnt be too impatient. Ive had pygmies hold onto their eggs for over a month from when I thought they were ready to lay. Like I said before, make sure she has lots of heat (a basking spot of at least 35 deg C) and plenty of lay spots to choose from.

 

[porkosta]

Hey guys heres an update. My girl layed 11 eggs on the weekend. One doesn't look to good and it may be a slug.
Thanks for all your help. I have the eggs in the incubator now and check them every few days.

One more question... how does everyone house their hatchlings once they hatch. Do you have tub or racks of some sort setup?

 

[Kyro]

Glad to hear she finally laid mate For the hatchies we made a heap of boxes out of core-flute with a basking light in the top of each & then we sat 4ft uv lights over the tubs. I will post pics up of our set up later today.

 

[porkosta]

Glad to hear she finally laid mate For the hatchies we made a heap of boxes out of core-flute with a basking light in the top of each & then we sat 4ft uv lights over the tubs. I will post pics up of our set up later today.

That would be great. Thanks