Bearded Dragon Eggs

[MagicMoonstone]

Hi

We recently rescued a female beardie. Within 2 weeks of her being here she laid 34 eggs.

We saw her size balloon within the first week of getting her so we took her to the vets to get checked and she had an ultrasound scan and we're told that she was gravid.

So we decided that we would try incubating some of the eggs. We didn't even know if they were going to be fertile but I couldn't bare the thought of just freezing them.

3 weeks later, 33 more eggs.

3.5 weeks later, 31 more eggs.

We are now preparing for them hatching. We already have 5 adults so our little bungalow is chocka with vivs already but we have acquired more in case we do get any babies.

Does anyone have any experience with hatchlings?

I know they're going to eat loads and loads. We've toyed with breeding insects but I can't cope with that idea because I can see already that there will be escapees.

And just to clarify... now I know how often they lay I have made myself get my head around freezing the eggs. It would be irresponsible and really expensive to keep incubating the eggs.

[Thatrabbittrickedme]

I had to google bearded dragons so this is not going to be a helpful response I'm afraid.

I'm very curious to know what you are planning to do with 98 new lizards? I read an article that said they are friendly and engaged but also live for 7-15 years!

[MagicMoonstone]

We didn't incubate all of the eggs. Once we realised how many she would be laying I got my head around freezing them. A lot of what we incubated went bad or were just infertile.

We did however incubate more than we sensibly should have done.... but looking at how many we lost from the first batch I don't expect many more than 20 babies.

Thankfully my circle of friends are all animally so I think a lot of the beardie love will be spread amongst my friends which is good as we will get to see them grow up and if anyone decides they can't keep them any longer they will just come back to us.

We have a reptile specialist a few miles away that asked if he could have them, as apparently baby dragons are like rocking horse poo at the minute, but I'd rather give them to friends than sell them.

He has told us it's all straight forward and easy to look after them but he has years of knowledge so it's bound to be for him.

[MagicMoonstone]

And yes, they are friendly. They're amazing little creatures.

We have 5 adults.... they all have their own little personalities. One likes to be snuggled to sleep each night... one gets super grumpy when he is about to shed. Some like to have a long soak in a warm bath whereas others like a quick dip in a cool bath. We have one that likes to sit on DP shoulder in the car.... he would sit for hours being driven about

Intriguing little things. I love them.

[Thatrabbittrickedme]

I almost want to take one of them myself! They sound great. Good luck with it, I hope someone more knowledgeable than me comes along to answer your op

[MagicMoonstone]

Honestly once you start they're addictive.

We have a stunning bright orange boy x

[sweetkitty]

The kindest thing to do is freeze them. Females can retain sperm for about a year after mating and laying that many eggs will take a large toll on her body so be sure to up her calcium.

BDs are solitary creatures, all the cute photos you see of them "cuddling" each other is actually domineering behaviours where the BD on top is not allowing the other ones light.

Bear in mind babies can't be kept together as they will most likely bite each other's toes and tails and they eat constantly. At one point we were spending £80 on locusts.

They are fantastic pets though sadly there's always loads in rescue needing new homes.