Odd behavior. Egg bound?

TurbosDad

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My 5 year old female star has been acting a bit odd lately. First I saw her sniffing the ground in area I had already identified as a viable nesting site. I quickly removed the male assuming the female was about to lay. It’s been over a week now. She’s no longer sniffing but acting rather lazy and hanging around that particular area which isn’t one of her favorite spots.

She doesn’t come out to graze but when I offer food (green beans) she’s more eager to eat than usual and even walks up to me. She’s also consuming a lot of cuttle bone.

She’s acting super lazy overall. She walks normally without dragging any limbs but she’s slower than usual. She does seem to enjoy warm soaks at night now. Back then she’d run a mile the moment she came into contact with water. Last night I observed her climbing out of the tub from 30 min soak and high walk directly at the assumed nesting area and crisscrossed the area a looking for access, which is from further up the yard. Then she paced along the boundaries, cut across the open area and settled in another hide.

I gave her a bath yesterday. Normally she’s very aggressive and empties her bowels during the process. She was a lot less aggressive yesterday but her stools passed normally and it looked and felt normal. However while trying to pass stools I saw a bright pink almost phallus like thing protrude out of her cloaca about half an inch. This came out whenever she appeared to be straining.

Was that her uterus? Is she trying to push out eggs? Her tail also stayed somewhat firmly pointing outward. Which is strange cos she normally tucks in her tail when I’m scrubbing her. I tried palpating but couldn’t feel anything, not that that I would know exactly what eggs feel like.
 

Markw84

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You are describing behavior that is egg laying behavior. They can act this way for some time before actually laying, especially if they cannot find a place they feel is just right to dig the nest. If she is passing stools normally, it doesn't sound like she is egg bound.
 

TurbosDad

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You are describing behavior that is egg laying behavior. They can act this way for some time before actually laying, especially if they cannot find a place they feel is just right to dig the nest. If she is passing stools normally, it doesn't sound like she is egg bound.

Thanks Mark. I guess I’ll sit back and wait for her lay then. Is there anything I can do to help her at this stage?
 

Markw84

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Thanks Mark. I guess I’ll sit back and wait for her lay then. Is there anything I can do to help her at this stage?
sounds like you are doing a lot right. Soaking, cuttlebone always available, and good diet and temps are important. I would also be sure there are good choices for nesting. Some choices of different soil compaction - some areas that are easy enough to dig, yet firm enough to hold it's form when digging a hole. A choice of sun exposure and moist, but not wet.
 

TurbosDad

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sounds like you are doing a lot right. Soaking, cuttlebone always available, and good diet and temps are important. I would also be sure there are good choices for nesting. Some choices of different soil compaction - some areas that are easy enough to dig, yet firm enough to hold it's form when digging a hole. A choice of sun exposure and moist, but not wet.

She did escape her enclosure once in the past week. Pretty sure she’s shopping around. I wouldn’t mind moving her to another enclosure with different soil conditions. I’m concerned if it’d be too radical an environment change for her. Should I “arrange” an escape for her into another enclosure?
 

Markw84

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She did escape her enclosure once in the past week. Pretty sure she’s shopping around. I wouldn’t mind moving her to another enclosure with different soil conditions. I’m concerned if it’d be too radical an environment change for her. Should I “arrange” an escape for her into another enclosure?
Can you provide a few spots with different soil conditions in her enclosure now? Once a female finds a spot she likes, they have a tendency to return to that same spot to lay for years to come. It would be nice if you could make a spot in her enclosure that fits her needs. You could try moving her to another enclosure as a second choice. When they are really looking for a place to lay, moving to a new location is not stressful if it is part of their search.
 

TurbosDad

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I’ll move her to another one of her favorite areas tonight during her soak. It’s inside the same enclosed area I’m assuming she hasn’t gone there since she started acting funny cos it requires a bit of climbing.
 

seanang168

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