Digging, Digging, Digging

[leigh01]

I have 3 female panthers living together in a large viv. They all recently mated with Greg and Barbara Logan Price Laid her eggs.... 31! Not bad for a first go and they have been incubation for a fornight and look ok.

Barbara dug a hole and laid her eggs no trouble, Lola however has been randomly dropping eggs for a couple of weeks now. Over the last two days she has been digging holes, leaving them and now she has spent all day digging and even looking like she was laying then covering up... is this just that she is a slow learner or is there a problem I should worry about?

I'm concerned about her getting eggbound. She just finished covering up and is basking and looks OK. Just after finishing she turned very dark with bright orange stripes and is now quite pale.

I'm basically just not sure if I should be worried or not.

Also, Rosie (they where named by a two year old!) the eldest lady of the gang is looking very fat but not very active at all. She seems to be in the same place all the time.. she wanders a little to feed and drink and then settles down to do nowt.

Are there any signs that I can check for to spot any problems in advance.. I'm not sure if I should be concerned or not.

I have bred veilds before but this is my first time with panthers.. from reading threads here panthers seem to have a few quirks of their own but your advice and experience would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Fidel]

How large is the cage they are in? What kind of egg laying site, and how many, do you have set up for them? I would think the nervousness about depositing her eggs could come from living in the same cage with the others,and/or from sharing egg deposition sites. Also the sight of you checking in could make her not feel safe about laying.

 

[kinyonga]

I've seen/heard of this eggdropping occurring before when more than one female is kept in a cage. IMHO its too stressful for some of them to have others around when they are ready to lay eggs.

Did Lola actually lay any eggs when she dug and covered this last hole?

It sounds like Rosie might be heading towards eggbinding...but it could be something else too...I'm not a vet and can only give my best "guess".

 

[leigh01]

Thanks for the replies.

The viv is a large one... 5ft x 3ft x 3ft. Lots of foliage and two large sites for them to choose from with a couple of branches sticking out of each. I have taken them out and put them in another viv on their own for a few days at a time each and tried covering them up with a towel so me moving around doesnt disturb them.

I'm not sure its me disturbing Lola as she spent allot of time covering up her hole after not laying any eggs in it... she did turn round and look like she was laying but when I dug it up there was nothing there.

Rosie may be not like the other girls being around though.. I'll try her on her own again and if that doesnt work then off to the vets with her!

Thanks again, any more adive is most welcome.

 

[kinyonga]

Sounds like she may already be eggbound since she covered up the hole and didn't lay any eggs. I wouldn't wait to get her to the vets.