Post Egg-Laying Health?

[GlennFrog]

My little girl Rinoa just laid her first clutch of eggs last night. I'm sure it's taxing to dig 3x your body length and then squeeze out 33 eggs, but how tired should she be? I thought she'd be famished, so I put some extra heavily calcium dusted crickets in there and she could not be less interested in them. Her eyes are moving around in a healthy manner, but her movements (or lack thereof) seem very lethargic. She's also much darker than normal. Am I just overly worried about her? I've never been through this before... Is there anything specific that I should be on the lookout for?

 

[jajeanpierre]

My little girl Rinoa just laid her first clutch of eggs last night. I'm sure it's taxing to dig 3x your body length and then squeeze out 33 eggs, but how tired should she be? I thought she'd be famished, so I put some extra heavily calcium dusted crickets in there and she could not be less interested in them. Her eyes are moving around in a healthy manner, but her movements (or lack thereof) seem very lethargic. She's also much darker than normal. Am I just overly worried about her? I've never been through this before... Is there anything specific that I should be on the lookout for?

No, you are not being overly worried. Ideally, they lay their eggs, crawl up to the top, have a good drink and eat like crazy and get on with their life.

Sometimes they have a tougher time of it. She needs a lot of TLC right now. Sometimes they get pretty run down from laying eggs and I have always worried it will be the beginning of a downward spiral. If she is not eating a lot tomorrow first thing, I would suggest you take her to the vet. She might need a bit of a boost of subcutaneous fluids with B complex vitamins, calcium and some glucose.

Mist her like crazy. Dehydration is a worry. Do you have anything particularly tempting for her?

I can't stress enough that if she isn't eating and drinking tomorrow to get her to a vet sooner rather than later. You do not want her to start declining. I've not had a lot of experience and never a really bad outcome, but I've been extremely proactive if they don't bounce right back. I've had two females that I thought were touch and go for a week after laying. If she hasn't bounced right back, I would also think the vet would want to give her liquid calcium for a period of time.

All the best.

 

[kinyonga]

Did she fill the hole in and tamp it down?

 

[GlennFrog]

Yes she did. Everything about the process seemed fine. She dug way down to the bottom of the container, laid her eggs in a neat little cluster, and filled it all back in. She even seemed to be moving around earlier in the day; I did have work so I couldn't monitor very closely, unfortunately. It was just when I went to feed her that something seemed off. I misted her pretty heavily and she drank some, but she just seems to be lethargic, like I said. I'm going to keep a close eye on her tomorrow and see if she eats and drinks appropriately.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Egg laying is often pretty hard on them. Her being lethargic and looking miserable is not abnormal. As long as she is eating and drinking, she should recover. Sometimes it takes a long time to recover. Give her lots of TLC. Do you have an automatic mister? I will run a mister for 20 minutes for a female that has just laid eggs, and I might do it four times in one day for several days, plus the regular mistings. I also feed really hydrating feeders--big fat silkworms. Really up her calcium. She should bounce back in a few days, but still really make sure she is getting a lot of calcium. I give my calcium in multiple feedings in a day--they can only absorb so much at any one time and the rest is just bound up in the intestines and not absorbed.

 

[GlennFrog]

Quick update: She's been eating and drinking very well the last couple of days. Thanks for all the help and advice everyone. I really appreciate it.