I think I might have a gravid female.

[zachbaker]

This is Bonnie my female dragon. I was hoping to breed her with Drazil . I havent seen any breeding activity other than head bobbing by Drazil. He has a tendency to turn his beard very black. I hope to catch this in a picture also. If anyone has any idea if these are eggs Im seeing I would like to know if you think the same or maybe Im just crazy. Here are the pics.

[prismwolf]

It's kind of hard to tell...but it does look like it could be eggs forming in there. I would seriously refrain from bending her back like that, however. Lizards are pretty tough in general, but if this movement causes an egg to break inside before the shells are fully formed and hardened...you will have a beardie needing an emergency spay...

There's not a lot of things cuter than a baby beardie. What color phase are they supposed to be...or are they normals?

[zachbaker]

sand fire. It looks like Im bending her back really hard but its just the angle. I did it like if I was sexing her.

[ChamZilla]

it does look painful though! Well if they are eggs your going to be a grandpa soon! I'm sure they will be cute if she is gravid and you are able to hatch them. Make sure you take pictures

[zachbaker]

Prism, Thanks for the thought. I will provide a laybox for her soon and hopefully she will lay them shortly. Do you recommend keeping her in her current 40 breeder or moving her? Drazil which is her mate is in the same cage with her currently but I will move him asap or her. I have a huge plant holder which can hold alot of soil. Do you recommend using this as a lay box for her. I also have 30 gallon sterilite container I could use. What do u recommend? I bought 20 pounds of potting soil without any chemicals. I also purchase perilite and sphagnum moss. How should I set up her lay box with the soil perilite and moss?

[zachbaker]

here are some pics of the hole she has dug in her laybox.

[prismwolf]

www.dachiu.com/care/breeding.html

Probably one of the best places to get the info you're looking for...:-)

[zachbaker]

Well I got good news. She laid them today and there were fourteen eggs laid. I now have my eggs in a Marsh Roll X automatic Incubator. I have the temp set at 84 degrees and the humidity level is around 80%.
The funny thing is that I went by a place called tractor supply and looked at their incubators but I decided against buying one because they were styrofoam. I went to work and thought long and hard about where to get a incubator. I work at a school as a custodian. I got to talking to a teacher who is actually a Doctor but she teaches advanced Biology. She says to me hey theirs a old incubator in that closet down the hall that I dont use any more. She says then that its a chicken incubator and that the egg turner doesnt work. She says you can have it if you want. I took it and now the eggs are in the incubator. I did a check online how much this incubator cost. It runs 500 dollars. She just gave it to me like it was nothing.
Here are the pics.

[prismwolf]

You came on a very sweet deal! Those Styrofoam ones are actually used by quite a lot of breeders, from snakes to lizards...but I definitely think you have a better deal on this one by far!

[zachbaker]

I hope so. This teacher who gave it too me told me this last year also when I mentioned about my geckos laying eggs. She says oh yeah its been sitting in their for like 5 years without being used. Everything works fine except the egg turner. Only if reptile eggs needed to be turned. LOL Should I keep it pretty humid in their? Im so happy about having eggs. I thought well she will have maybe 7
eggs. Little did I know. I was like a little kid in a candy store when I saw how skinny she was afterwards I knew then she had laid and I began to dig. I just kept digging and counting. LOL I hope that these babies when hatched are very colorful because my male breeder drazil has a high orange color to him. Thanks prism and others for all of your help.

[zachbaker]

I noticed this morning that some of the eggs had begun to collapse a little. Im not sure what the problem is but here are the pics I took of them.

[zachbaker]

Most of them collapsed and I was left with nothing but little raisins. Im so sad I have no Idea how this happened because the temp was just right and so was the humidity.

[zachbaker]

The fan maybe could of caused this. I didnt put in enough water in the in incubator or I put too much. Any body got any Ideas how this could of happened. I put the digital temp gage at the bottom of the incubator. It read 83 degree and and 80 percent humidity. I think I may have underestimated the incubator fan which pulls the air from the eggs heating them up.

[ChamZilla]

mmm that is odd. Maybe they were not furtalised? I know nothing about beardies or breeding them Sorry though Zach, maybe more luck next time

[zachbaker]

Do unfertilized eggs have blood vessels in them? Most of the eggs do have some blood vessels on the walls of the egg shell. I think something might survive but I think I may have made a mistake by not putting the lids on the rubbermaid containers before putting them into the incubator. I think thats the reason. I know they will breed again and I will have more dragons eventually. I will seperate them so I dont stress her too much.