What is a bearded dragon lay box? Typically, the female bearded dragon will be able to lay eggs after their first birthday. There are a variety of things that can help to activate the dragon egg-laying cycle. When your bearded dragon is thought to be ‘gravid’ in other words ready to lay eggs, you will need to prepare what is commonly known as a bearded dragon lay box, lay bin or digging box.
Having a bearded dragon comes with many different responsibilities. When they are in their egg-laying cycle, it is important to ensure that they are as comfortable as possible and are kept safe and healthy. Part of that process is to prepare a great lay box for them during the process.
A lay box should be a shallow but open container that is filled with a warm, moist substrate so that your female bearded dragon can comfortably lay her eggs. A lay box needs to mimic their home habitats, ensuring it is kept warm with some damp sand.
Before making your bearded dragon lay box, you will need:
- Organic soil
- 30-gallon tote
- Children’s playground sand
What is the best bearded dragon lay box to use?
When preparing to make a lay box for your gravid bearded dragon, you’re going to want to prepare a separate enclosure to act as their lay box. However, some bearded dragons can become nervous within a rapid change of environment – in this case, you can put the lay box within the original enclosure as long as you adjust the temperature.
Size
Most female beardies will be comfortable in a 15×15 inch box, enough to move around in but not overwhelming.
A standard litter box or a plastic container will suffice, as long as it is roughly 6 inches deep so that you can pour in your substrate. Typically, female beardies will dig, lay, and bury their eggs straight away.
What substrate shall I use?
You will need a 50/50 mix of damp play sand and organic topsoil. The reason for this is that you want to mimic their home habitat. The base surface should be hard enough for them to run on, but soft enough for them to dig and lay their eggs whilst keeping the right amount of humidity.
For organic topsoil, we recommend Eco Terra Jungle Earth Substrate which gives the perfect humidity for reptiles.
For safe sand, go for Children’s play sand by ‘Happy Sand’. A non-toxic product that is washed and graded – it is safe both for children and for your reptile keeping away any nasty bacteria.
What’s the process?
Once you have mixed your soil and sand, ensure that your plastic container or litter box is filled with around 10-12 inches of mixture.
If you have the correct mixture, you should be able to build a sandcastle.
You’ll want to start pre-making a tunnel for your beardie to begin digging into. It will help them with the process, but also encourage them to dig in that particular location.
Once this is complete, you will want to carefully put your bearded dragon into the new enclosure. If they are digging leave them to it.
DO NOT DISTURB THEM DURING THIS PROCESS.
Keep checking in on your bearded dragon. If they haven’t managed to begin digging within 1-2 hours, then they aren’t quite ready, and you can try again the next day.
If you enjoyed this article you might also like to read about Why is my Bearded Dragon Basking?
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