Painted Agama

Question

Painted Agama   QUESTION: Hi i have a female painted Agama (laudakia stellio brachydactyla)I've had her 6 years now from a baby, in the last few weeks she's started acting strange always banging on the glass to come out and digging in the sand all day, piling it up then moving it around again, today when i got home i noticed a small egg, obviously infertile as i don't have a male, she's carrying on with the digging etc. What i wanted to know was what to do? do i just leave her and is everything going to be ok, will it carry on? she has never done this before so it is new to me, hope you can help.
Regards
Craig.

ANSWER: Hello Craig,

Oh she is so  pretty!  I don't get to see many of the painted Agamas, as they are not commonly kept here in the US.
Well, she just needs maybe a small laybox, if you can manage one just so she has a "designated lay" area to make her more comfortable.  I would put potting soil, & either vermiculite or perlite & sand in it.  You want the dirt mixture to be damp/wet but not sopping wet.  It needs to be able to support a little burrow should she choose to dig deeper.  She probably has more eggs to lay!
Make sure you give her some extra calcium right now als.  
Let me know how she is doing.

Tracie

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

QUESTION: Hi thanks, i've done that, she's had a dig in it but is still digging everywhere else aswell, how long do i leave the eggs before taking them out?
Could I have caused her to start doing this, last summer a put a pepple in with her, the one in the picture and ever since she has been sat on it with it under her belly, perhaps this triggered something off?
I've never seen these again here in the UK.

Craig.

Answer
Hello Craig,

Well, sometimes they just reach the mature age & develop follicles then eggs.  She is the right age really, so it is individual as some never do develop eggs while others do.  
I doubt the pebble had anything to do with her developing any eggs.  
I would take the eggs out after she is done laying & has buried them.  That way you don't disturb her in case she has not finished laying.
So you lucked out when you got her then.  
Let me know how she is doing.

Tracie