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My What the Fff Is Better Than Yours!!

Nanci

Nanci

Alien Lover
So readers of DYK know Isabel went weird last week. I'd just gotten a new shipment of silkworms and hornworms, which she ate greedily for a couple days. Then she refused all food the next day, and when I picked her up, she was horrifyingly weak, and seemed like skin and bones. Overnight. I weighed her and she was over a hundred grams less then when she came out of brumation. I knew she had been coccidia-free just a couple months ago. She was pooping, so she wasn't impacted. I started feeding her a mixture of Jump Start reptile appetite stimulant and chicken baby food and Gatorade and her vitamins, by syringe, daily. I got 25 grams back on her in a week, and she was acting perky and normal. This morning she even ate two hornworms and two silkies, the first food she's taken voluntarily in a week.

I got home this afternoon, and she was plastered on the floor of her viv. I picked her up, weighed her, weight is the same. No interest in her worms. So I put her back, and then when I checked on her 30 minutes later, there she is, prostrate on the floor. But wait- she's raising her tail, like she's going to poop! I pick her up, intending to rush her to the bathtub, and she is puffed up HUGE! I can see what I think is a big urate ball sticking out of her vent. And as I'm holding her, thinking, WTH, out pop two eggs!

What to do??? I don't have anything resembling a nest box, so I put her in a warm bath. She proceeds to lay three more eggs. They can lay up to in the 20's! There are more coming! Should I feed them to a kingsnake???
 

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I wonder if I'd have taken her to the vet if he'd have known what was wrong with her. He suggested spaying her back when I first got her, if she was to start laying slugs. We're up to six eggs now.
 
I made her a make-shift laying box with damp peat moss. I didn't want to mess up her viv, so she's sitting in it, in the bathtub...We're up to nine eggs, now. Including the latest which was laid in the box. I can't palpate them at all; I have no idea how many more there will be. Gotta go- big crash in the bathtub...
 

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So all of them are slugs?? There's no chance for any of them? Man..that's kind of sad :(...poor Isabel..hope she feels better and gets all the slugs out soon..
 
Could be parthenogenesis, lol it does seem to be popping up lately in species where it was never noted before seriously. They do look like slugs but make sure she is getting her needed vitamins afterwards egg laying can be really stressful for them so keep an eye on that beautiful girl.
 
Eleven and counting...Poor Isabel. It's hours past her bedtime. I'm keeping the lights on as bright as possible so she doesn't get too sleepy. I want her to finish before she goes to bed.
 
I've put her to bed. Instead of floating in a dream-like state in the bathtub, she was scrabbling around, ready to leave. Now she's asleep. Eleven total, for now, anyway.
 

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She just laid two more eggs in her sleep...I've put her back in the tub. It's more comfortable.
 
Hey Nanci, beardies like to make a "cave" in moist soil to bury their eggs. I use a deep Rubbermaid tote or a trash can half full of moist sterile soil and sand for my guys to lay in. Otherwise they just take forever and drop eggs all over the place or worse don't lay at all. It's hard to know if they are done when they lay eggs all spread out too. If you don't have anything that big, maybe covering the box she's in with a towel or something would simulate an underground environment. Then she'll feel safer and lay faster. Don't be surprised if she looks terrible afterwards as well. After laying an average of 25 eggs my guys are usually exhausted and kinda limp. Mine also sleep standing up for a while too. I think that's to help all their internal organs drop back into place. Good Luck.
Terri
 
Thanks Terri. I wonder if they lay as many when they lay slugs. And what if it's at night, when they are supposed to be sleeping??
 
AND she's up to 17. I put the nest box in her viv, and she's standing in the corner of it, over the hole I dug. I tried to cover it, but then she wouldn't stay in.
 
Have you tried putting a damp towel over the top? Not sopping wet, but just damp enough to where it'll make it feel more humid-cave/burrow-ish. :shrugs:
 
The peat, which is all I had, is moist enough to hold a burrow shape. But now she's gone off to her hide and is asleep. For now. Poor thing goes to bed at 5:30! It's way past her bedtime, too. She's in her hide because it's dark- I had her lights on to see what was going on and so she'd maybe stay awake, since she was laying eggs in her sleep, before...
 
Well, at the very least - you have some treats for your kings! Though it would have been nice to see those egg's develop into ikkle dragons..
:)
Hope you && your army is all doing well :)
George "Jorj" xx
 
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