I am not an exotics vet. I do love them and have kept many over the years, of various species. In fact, my dream job would probably be treating dogs, bunnies and lizards all day, every day, but I lack sufficient skills and knowledge for the latter two. If I’m completely honest, there are plenty of days I feel that I need to know tons more about dogs to properly treat them. For some, that’s a beautiful thing about this professional of mine: there is always more to learn.
Between this past Friday morning and tomorrow morning, Bearded Dragons, specifically cycling female Bearded Dragons are at the top of that list, courtesy of Elliot. I thought we had a nice, predictable life for ourselves until I went to feed Elliot before work on Friday. I opened his cage, noticed a couple of marble-sized white, oblong objects on the cage carpet and thought to myself, “Those are very big, oddly-shaped urates.” At the back of the cage, I saw on the strip of glass floor not covered by carpet a yellow streak resembling very soft boiled egg yolks, and that’s when I put it all together: these are not urates at all; these are eggs.
That’s all well and good except that Elliot is 5 years old and previously thought to be male. She had never given me a real reason to go back and double check or question her earlier sexing. Since yesterday morning, I have learned that Bearded Dragons rarely lay eggs prior to about a year or a year and a half of age. Some females may never lay them, especially if there is no male around. Once they start, however, she may lay several clutches of eggs a few weeks apart during the spring and/or fall. Typically, 15-30 eggs make up a single clutch.
Elliot should have given me some indication that she was gravid and about to lay eggs. She might have been lethargic, exhibited a decreased appetite, seemed to gain weight, started producing pink colored urates (as opposed to the normal white) or she may have started digging or acting as if she wanted to escape her enclosure. In addition, I may have been able to feel the eggs, had I recently palpated her abdomen. I didn’t see any of these changes; she’s been 100% normal for her.
I panicked a little bit on Friday morning, when I discovered the first two eggs (and especially saw the yolk with no associated shell). In the back of my mind, I thought that Beardies may be prone to yolk or egg peritonitis, which my subsequent research confirmed is true. I didn’t have any time to think rationally or Google anything right at that moment, as I needed to get to work. Out of an abundance of caution, I just packed her up and brought her to work, along with Rook and Magic. I figured I could take an x-ray and hopefully gauge if anything dramatic seemed amiss and monitor her throughout the day, as they can become very sick very quickly with yolk peritonitis.
Elliot’s x-ray showed more eggs, although they were difficult to accurately count. To my eye (that doesn’t routinely look at Beardie x-rays/hasn’t since my previous Beardie in 2014 or 2015), nothing else seemed off. She promptly laid 4 more eggs on the x-ray table. During the day, she pancaked herself to soak up as much warmth as she could from her basking light and received periodic attention from the staff. I scheduled her an appointment with my friend who actually IS an exotics vet on Monday morning to have blood work checked and discuss spaying her. In the interim, I put together a lay box for her yesterday, anticipating more eggs. (So far, she’s not impressed with my attempt.)
To be determined what comes next for Elliot. I’ve read a little about when to spay Bearded Dragons. One person said not to do it just because she laid one clutch. Some people have had clients want them pre-emptively and have done them in these cases, but there is the issue of timing. It’s easier to do them when follicles and vessels are prominent. Ideally, you do want the Beardie to be healthy at the time of surgery, but some will really only do them when there is a problem. One person stated that, to get all follicles, it may not be a one-and-done procedure. Ovariectomy seems to be the recommendation, leaving the oviduct. Reptiles are not known to be great under anesthesia, so that adds some additional worry for me as the person who loves and cares for Elliot. On the other hand, I don’t love the idea of her becoming acutely ill in the future and perhaps being too ill to even consider surgery. I trust the recommendation of my friend, so we’ll see what she has to say tomorrow.
Send us your good thoughts! Also- I have no idea if he actually said it, but it’s the only quote I could find about Bearded Dragons:
“Table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a bearded dragon. What else does a person need to be happy?” ~ Albert Einstein ~
