Bearded Dragon. Determining Egg Fertility.

Healthy looking eggs immediately after laying should have a nice white tinge to them and a soft firmness when touched. Dark yellow or soggy eggs are most likely infertile and will not develop. If the eggs have a brownish tint to them in spots don’t worry, it is most likely just dirty from being in the soil. As long as the eggs have that firm soft feel to them, you should be fine (unless they are obviously yellow.)

After a few days you should be able to determine if the eggs are fertile or not by candling them. In a dark room carefully hold the egg up to a flashlight and point one end of the flashlight directly into the egg. If the egg is fertile, you will notice tiny red lines throughout the egg and possibly a dark splotch. The tiny red lines are blood vessels and the dark splotch is the beginning development of the embryo. If you cannot see anything, place the egg back into the incubator and check again in a few days. If you have not noticed anything by two weeks, your eggs are most likely infertile but continue incubating them just in case.

[snip left][/snip]If your eggs begin to collapse or shrivel during incubation up until the time they are due to hatch, make sure and check your humidity. If the humidity is too low the eggs will shrivel and die. Do not confuse this with infertile eggs. If you can see veins inside the egg and it is collapsing – increase the humidity by placing more water in small containers inside the incubator. If you cannot see red veins in the eggs after two weeks and they are collapsing, it is most likely due to infertile eggs and they will die. It is also important not to confuse the collapsing with the hatching of your eggs.

The amount of eggs and clutches your female will lay will all depend on the individual dragon. Factors that contribute to this are age, size, husbandry care, and genetics. The typical dragon clutch will be around 20 eggs or so and about 2 clutches per year. Our dragons average 25 to 35 eggs per clutch and 3 to 4 clutches per year.