green iguana first eggs

Question
QUESTION: hi there . i`ve had my iguana for 17 years and she was full grown before i got her but today for the first time i have found a couple of eggs in her viv ! one soft and fresh and 1 leathery so may have been buried and just turned up ! is this normal ? i`d figured she was well past laying and she`s never seen a male ! obviously these are not gonna be viable but wondering why this has happened for the first time at her time of life as there`s been no change in diet lighting temp or humidity

ANSWER: Hi Wulf,
I would think she was past the age of laying eggs also.  They never stop making us crazy, do they?  Her never laying eggs til that age is very odd. I would surely take her to a vet to have an xray done to be sure there are no more eggs in her which can be deadly if they don't come out or aren't surgically removed.
I have one ig that laid eggs when she was under two yrs of age, then again the following year and has not laid eggs since. She is now 9 yrs old. No one really knows why they do what they do when it comes to egging.
Believe it or not there are cases where eggs have remained in them for many years and then for some reason they decide to push them out but many times what happens is the ig gets very ill or an x ray is done for one reason or another and the eggs are discovered just laying inside the iguana. When this happens, the eggs must be removed.
Again, I highly recommend that your iguana have an x-ray  to be sure there are no more eggs in her.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: update to the previous ! in the following week or so we got a further 20 eggs ! x-ray shows that thats the lot ! still can`t figure why she suddenly decided to lay but she`s now back to her old self and yes i think her sole intention is to drive me insane !
thanks for the help
regards
wulf

Answer
They sure do keep us guessing!!  Glad to hear that she was able to pass the eggs with no problems and that she is back to her old self.  I wonder if this was like her "last chance" to reproduce.  Nature is like that...HOPEFULLY she won't do this to you every year now.  If she would happen to start forming eggs sooner than next year (referred to as double clutching) then you may have to consider having her spayed...double clutching is horribly tough on the igs..BUT...at her age, a spay would also be hard.  Fingers crossed she is now done with the egging thing!  Again, glad to hear that she is doing well.