iguana with eggs question

Question
QUESTION: my female iguana Princess Elizabeth has been confirmed to be "with egg" officially after an xray at the vet's last Thursday. Lots of eggs in her belly.

I set up a nestbox which she accepted with organic potting soil, which she did NOT accept (kicked it ALL out and would not go back in until it was removed). I cleaned it all up and tried sand. This she seems to accept well enough. She did alot of digging and scratching, and now that seems to have tapered off.

She's not eating, drinking very little, spends most of her time under her heat lamps and her UVB lamps. She is 3.5 years old, 4 feet long total, very mellow. The vet says she is very healthy, no metabolic bone disease, etc. etc.

My question is when will I know she is ready to lay her eggs? Are there signs? By signs I mean other than her now only occasional scratching and checking her nestbox, in which she has made a very nice oval for the eggs in the sand. Will she give me some kind of sign that "it's time" or do I have to play guesswork?

Reason I want to know is I don't want to stress her out by taking her to the vet unnecessarily yet don't want to make a mistake of taking her to the vet too late.

ANY help with this will be greatly appreciated.

ANSWER: Hi Maureen,
Welcome to the "oh just wonderful" world of egg laying female igs!!
In all honesty, if I could give you a 100% definite answer I would be a head of all the other ig people in the world!!!!.
What did you use for a nesting box?  In the wild(an in captivity) they prefer dark areas...a rubbermaid tote(30 gallon or larger) works well.  You cut a round hole in one end of the lid....I've had good luck with mixing about 1/4 childrens playsand to 3/4 sphagnum moss...to this you add enough warm water that the mix is easy to dig in and hold a tunnel. You need to check the soil to make sure it maintains the proper moisture to hold the recommended shape. Igs can lay eggs pretty deep..in the wild they have been known to tunnel about 3 feet...I generally make sure they can dig about 18 inches deep..this seems to satisfy my one girl. Some igs do prefer the plain sand ....yep...its a guessing game and a "read our igs mind" game.
You want to have the egging box soil warm on the top.. (generally about the recommended ambient temperatures of the mid 80's.  The deeper you go, the cooler the soil.
Gravid igs tend to be very active, which is vital to them laying the eggs.  They need to have lots of vertical areas to climb which is said to help the eggs drop down.  They tend to get more active the last two weeks or so.  They also start to look lumpy about the last two weeks.  Mine gets very nasty and protective about the last two weeks.  They want to soak more..and they drink more.
At what stage of eggs did the vet say she was?  You can base when to expect eggs on their stage usually.
If she is not happy with her egging box, she may just dig and dig...or she may just stay out of it..or she may dig to get out of her cage.  Some people will allow the ig to let them decide where they want to lay their eggs...under beds, on beds..etc..
Many times, igs will reabsorb their eggs if a proper spot isn't provided for them. They will also hold their eggs if a proper spot is provided which can lead to egg binding, meaning they get to a point they cannot lay the eggs and surgical intervention is needed.
A good link on egg laying is at:
http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/egging.html
At that link, you can try to figure out what stage she is at...

And a link on egg binding is at:
http://www.anapsid.org/dystocia.html

If its been over 4 weeks since the x rays..or if the vet gave an idea as to when to expect eggs and its past that time, its a good idea to have another x ray done.
In the link to my webshots page, there are folders there with some gravid pictures...how they look lumpy, etc.
If you have any more questions, let me know.





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

QUESTION: Hi Diane,
Elizabeth has lots of vertical room ~ her habitat is a refrigerator sized iguana habitat in which she does do a great deal of climbing. Now she just tore off a nail sheath and I can tell that hurts ~ it never ends.

She looks lumpy and as I was just holding her because of her nail I could feel individual eggs with a soft shell. The vet did not say exactly what stage she was at but said if she doesn't have them within the next week I should bring her in for either help or a spay.

For a nest box she has an extra large kitty crate with a lid, dark, door way in front, and that is inside of a large box with a hole cut in the front so she can just go from the habitat through one of her lower doorways right into the nest box.

Right now it's holding about 150 lbs of sand, two feet deep.

She's in the last stage I think from what I just felt and she's back in there, digging through the warm, damp sand.

So it should be time very soon, right? I sound like a paranoid grandmother waiting for the grandbaby, right?:)

Answer
Hi Maureen,
My one ig is good at tearing claws...its usually a dryness issue...when she gets to soak lots, it doesn't happen.  At one point she had more missing than what remained...good news is they all grew back.
Lol on the grandmother!!!
She should lay them soon since she is lumpy looking and with her digging, etc...is a good sign....  MOST will lay them during the night..but that's not a guarantee!
Just listen for any frantic digging...what I mean is to the point of exhaustion...and also watch for any straining with  nothing being pushed out.  
When they are good and healthy, they pop them out fast....
With it being her first clutch, expect any where from 15-25 for "NORMAL"  BUT...shes an older girl that is pretty big so even though its her first time she may have a pile in there.
I do recommend an xray after she lays to make sure she popped them all out....generally waiting a week is fine unless of course she is acting "off" in any way, then the sooner the better for her.