Question
Kloe's Egg
I rescued my water dragon over a year ago, its last owner was horrible, and I think she was abused and not feed properly. She was extremely skinny and afraid of most food...she refused to ear crickets and is a very fussy eater...mostly only "super worms" as the pet store calls them. She does have a injury of some sort to her tail and was obviously not looked after, they were planning to release her into the forest before I took her! Sad that these people even had a pet! Anyways, she has been with me for at least a year and a half and I have got it quite plump now...although she tends to go through some sort of non eating period every few months, she refuses to eat and I have tried all sorts of different worms, crickets etc. Is there a reason she stops eating? I am worried about her because I dont think she has eaten in a while...whenever I clean her tank I am finding lots of worms still in there. Also for the past few weeks she is refusing food altogether and last night I found an egg in her water pan. I have removed it from the water and put it in a separate dish in her tank, however I am confused. I didnt even know if it was a male or female, but obviously it is a female. We have had NO contact with any other reptile or dragon since I got her over a year ago...can I assume that the egg will not hatch? She has been extremely sluggish lately, not active, not eating...although since laying her egg she has gotten a lot brighter in color. How often should she lay an egg? Could she be ill? Any suggestions of food I could try? Thanks, for listening and hopefully you can help me and my water dragon Kloe.
AnswerKrista,
This is a tough situation because I just recently went through almost the exact same thing with my iguana Amy and it's so hard to read their signs to konw what exactly is going on. When you have a gravid female, there are a lot of possibilities for how the situation will end up. I will start by saying that because your Kloe was cared for improperly, her body may not be properly developed to handle egg production/egg laying well. A lot of times, when you rehabilitate a neglected/abused reptile, once their bodies heal and are healthy again, the body will be triggered to produce eggs. Eggs are usually produced in healthy lizards starting anytime between 2-5 years of age and if they are not healthy, they won't produce, so once they regain their health, their hormones start to kick in properly and production resumes. Anyhow, I am going to discuss the possible outcomes for having a gravid female in a moment, but first, to answer your question, yes! lizards can produce eggs having never had contact with a mating partner, and yes, it is safe to assume the egg will not hatch. They are infertile, similarly to the eggs we buy from the grocery store.
So, here is some background info about water dragon reproduction. The clutch of eggs range between 6 to 18 eggs, with a mean of 9 eggs. Water Dragons in the Australian National Botanic Gardens start laying eggs in early to mid November through to the end of December. Normally two clutches of eggs are produced in this period, roughly a month apart. The hatchlings appear from late summer to early autumn.
Knowing this, it is safe to assume that your female has more than one egg. It is very unusual to have just one egg.
Here are the possibilities for how this situation could end up:
1. Kloe could resorb the remaining eggs. Resorbtion occurs often in females and this means that before the egg becomes calcified and develops a shell, its contents are resorbed back into the body and an egg never forms or needs to be laid.
2. Kloe could have more calcified eggs needing to be laid and eventually lay them and have no adverse health effects (not likely because of her previous health issues). Be sure you have some sort of substrate available (preferably play sand or soft earth) to her for digging because she will need to dig in order to produce the hormone that allows her to lay.
3. Kloe could become eggbound where she has more eggs to lay but cannot do so because of a number of reasons, either the hormone that triggers laying is not being produced enough, or her muscles become too tired to keep pushing, or perhaps she has an egg lodged that physically cannot pass.
4. If left too long, an egg can break internally and produce an infection in the abdominal cavity (this is what happened with my Amy).
Now, you have to be very perceptive to the signs that Kloe is putting out. If she is not feeling like her normal self and is not eating and appears otherwise ill, it is important that you consider taking her into the vet to discuss emergency spay. Sometimes you can see the outline of eggs in the abdomen or push on the belly and feel the eggs slipping around in there, then you know for sure she has some more that need to come out. A vet should be able to do an X-RAY and detect the presence of other eggs and decide if they should come out.
I will be honest, it is not a good sign to wait once you start noticing appetite changes or other signs of illness. Reptiles do not tend to show they are sick until they are literally dying. I don't want to scare you, but with Amy, I waited a little too long, hoping she would lay the rest of her eggs. With Amy, she would lay 2-4 eggs one day, then a couple days later, lay 2 more, then a few days later, lay 1 more and I didn't notice a change in her appetite, so I kept putting it off. Finally, she laid a bloody egg and I took her into the vet. They did an emergency spay on her and removed 12 more eggs from her. She had a terrible infection in her abdominal cavity from a ruptured egg and within 12 hours of coming out of surgery, I lost her.
It was the most heart-wrenching experience because I thought for certain she would make it through the surgery. I can only urge you to use your best judgment on whether or not you think you should seek out medical attention. Perhaps it would be useful to start her on antibiotics nonetheless even if you don't opt for a spay so that she doesn't get an infection like my Amy did.
Just FYI...because Kloe produced an egg, it is safe to say that she is probably in need of a calcium supplement. Production of eggs takes a lot of calcium from the body and you may want to consider using a calcium supplement. Also, keep watch that her water dish is not deeper than her elbows because they can get very exhausted and you don't want her to have any potential dangers in her living quarters in case she decides to lay in the water.
Please don't hesitate to follow up with any further questions or to shoot your question at a different expert to see if they can offer you any better insight based on their experience in this area.
Thank You,
Sara J Gwerder
President
Raptor Rescue Iguana Sanctuary
Shreveport, LA
www.RaptorRescue.org
Good Diet + UVB Radiation + Proper Temperatures + Set Daily Schedule = Healthy + Happy Reptile
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