So, you suspect your female may be pregnant?

A female is usually gravid (pregnant) for approx. 4 weeks... So you will definitely find out soon enough!  Good clues that she may be gravid is:

  • Insane appetite!  Most females when gravid are very hungry.  Don't limit her food & water intake.  Allow her to eat as much as she likes and especially
    pay extra attention to her calcium intake.  She will need as much as possible.  Making eggs is hard work and most of her calcium will go to her eggs.  You
    don't want to deprive her own body of calcium and if she doesn't get enough extra calcium to make her eggs, calcium will start to be drawn from her own
    body.

  • Growing Belly.  The most obvious way to know if she is gravid is her growing belly.  Sometimes it's hard to tell in the first week or so.  But if it continues
    to grow daily it's a good indication that she just isn't getting fat :)  By the 2nd - 3rd weeks you should be able to *gently* palpate her belly and her sides
    and you may be able to feel a bunch of lumps as if she swallowed a cluster of grapes.  We still laugh at our girls when they are gravid and their bellies are
    so big they are dragging on the bottom of the cage!

Like with humans, planned pregnancy is the best.  That way you can ensure that she is getting plenty of food, nutrition, vitamins, TLC, and you are ready for all
that is about to happen!  BUT "accidents" happen.  If you are *not* prepared for incubating eggs, or rearing babies, or being prepared for your girl to lay eggs every
3-4 weeks then I advise strongly to separate any female/male  groupings.  With Bearded Dragons one "interlude" can lead up to 9 "pregnancies".  Trust
me it is alot of work, worry, it's expensive and can be draining.  

Back to my point :) -> If it isn't planned and it's something that you don't desire or are not presently ready for - all you can do is roll with the punches until she
depletes her sperm storage but you will still need to care for her and prepare a lay bin as she will be laying eggs every 3-4 weeks.

  • Do not throw the eggs in the garbage if you don't want them.  Garbage dumps are warm decomposing places and can just provide the right temperatures
    for them to be brought to hatching day...then we have a bunch of little baby dragons running around icky garbage dumps and they would die from a whole
    list of things :(

  • It may sound cruel but the best thing to do is to freeze the eggs then throw them out.  That way you are ensuring that they will seize any development.

If you are ready to go forward, your girl is gravid... It can be *usually* between 3-4 weeks before she will lay her eggs.  She will give you clues when she is close
to wanting to lay her eggs.  Click here for more details about laying, signals to watch for, removing her from the lay bin and helping her recover after all her hard
work shortly.   Before she lays her eggs there are a few things you will need to get ready.  The things you will need to get first are:

Lay bin:

  • A bin large enough for her to dig and lay her eggs in.  Such as a extra large rubbermaid storage bin.  This is a good choice because it is light, easily
    washable, gives her the feeling of being hidden away and underground.

  • You will need vermiculite - you can find this at most garden stores.  This is a very light weight product.  It helps retain moisture and is easy to remove
    from the surface of the eggs after she has laid them, unlike soils, sand etc.  Everyone has their preference and this is mine.  Sometimes what I have done
    is mix a *little* sand with the damp Vermiculite.  You will need vermiculite for both the lay bin and the incubator or hovabator.  

  • You will need rubber gloves - it is best to keep things as sterile as possible.  

  • You will need a heat light to clamp onto the bin and aim down onto the vermiculite.  To keep her warm and to heat up the vermiculite in the lay bin.  You
    will need to watch her signals and make sure you turn on that heat light and leave it on so it makes everything nice and warm.  Most of the time females
    tend to lay their eggs in the late afternoon or early evening.  It is speculated that they do this because in the wild the sun has been warming the ground all
    day.  

  • You will need a nice quiet place for the lay bin to be whilst she is preparing her nesting hole and laying her clutch.  Preparing and laying her clutch of
    eggs is about the only maternal instinct female dragons have.  They are very cautious when making their "perfect" nesting hole.  If disturbed it isn't
    uncommon for her to stop everything she is doing and wait till she feels it is safe and begin all over again with a new hole.  Typically female beardies are
    opportunists in the way that they will always go to a hole/burrow that has already been started.  It is a wonderful thing to watch... Sometimes frustrating
    too!  They won't lay their eggs until everything is "just perfect".  I have watched MANY cave ins.  You see them working on a hole for an hour or two
    sometimes even longer and to have it collapse before your eyes (and hers) it's almost heart breaking because she is so tired and yet fiercely determined
    and she now needs to start all over again from scratch.  Tinkerbell is famous for this!  She will be right through all the vermiculite in the lay bin and
    scratching the bottom of the bin - and she's made (what I perceive as) the most perfect hole but she won't stop... and then it collapses!  Once it took her
    2.5 days to dig her ultimate nesting hole.

  • You will need a teaspoon to help you to carefully undig her eggs and to very very carefully scoop up one egg at a time.  You must be so careful not to
    drop it, hit it, turn it, rotate it and squash it.  Unlike some other egg laying creatures bearded dragon eggs CANNOT BE TURNED OR ROTATED.  This will
    kill the embryo.  The position it is laid is the position it must be incubated in.  They are soft shelled eggs.  They are quite pliable... But don't do it :)

That's about all you need for your lay bin.  Click here for more information on set up and laying

This is what you will need to incubate your bearded dragon eggs:

  • You will need an incubator or hovabator - either of those are quite suitable.  We have heard bad things about hovabators but personally we have never
    experienced a single problem.  As long as it is set up correctly, temperature and humidity is correct it should be just perfect.  Don't run out and get a
    hovabator the day she lays her eggs please!  Both an incubator and hovabator require time to heat up and stabilize the required temperature.  Sounds easy
    right?  Well it is and it isn't lol.  :)  Your incubation units should be set up and warming for at least a couple of days prior to even thinking of putting eggs in
    there... This is to ensure that you have in fact stabilized the temps and humidity and no surprise fluctuations occur after you have put your egg bins in the
    unit.  The optimal temperature for incubating the eggs are 82°f - 88°f.  That is your range and goal.  Any drastic temperature fluctuations can harm or kill
    your incubating eggs.

  • You will need a digital thermometer with a probe.  You can find this at any hardware store or Wal-Mart in their seasonal department where they carry
    indoor/outdoor thermometers.  Do not rely on the thermometer that comes with the hovabator.  It is hard to see the readings through the plastic windows on
    the top of the unit.  There are several holes on the top of the hovabator lid - simply put the prob through the hole and carefully put the probe in one of the
    egg bin lids and re close the cover of the unit.   Ensure you have the digital thermometer set for "outdoors" or "out" and the probe will relay the
    temperatures of an egg bin...essentially telling you the temp your eggs are incubating at.

  • You will need vermiculite as mentioned earlier.  The vermiculite will be inside the egg bins and will be the "bed" for your eggs for the next 64-69 days.  
    Vermiculite is very affordable.  So between the lay bin and the incubator you will need at least 3 large bags (at least 2 for the lay bin and part of the last
    bag will be used for your eggs bins.

  • You will need sterile  warm water to mix with the vermiculite for the egg bins

  • You will need bins to place the eggs (and vermiculite) in with lids.  *Make sure your bins and lids fit inside your unit before the big day comes!*  You will
    need to drill about 5 holes in each of the lids - 1/16th drill bit should do just fine :)

  • You will need a drill and a 1/16th drill bit

  • You will need masking tape for labelling your bins of the date they were laid, and also to cover back up those holes you just drilled! :)  Seriously though,
    you need the tape to cover the holes to help control the humidity in the egg bins.

  • You will need gloves!  Always wear gloves when handling the eggs, or anything that will touch the eggs.  Keep things as sterile as possible.

That's about all you need for your incubation unit.  Click here for how to set up your *hovabator, egg bins, and the incubation process.

In the meantime... Get shopping!!! :)
Written by: Robin Moniz 2006
*** Having gravid female(s) and rearing babies is a huge commitment & responsibility and
should not be entered in without doing all the research.  I have linked terms that I think
someone who may be considering this may not know, to the dragon dictionary.  Feel free to
email me if there is a term that I haven't linked or you cannot find in the dragon dictionary.