Digging through the paper?

[Khrysty]

Noticed a couple of nights ago that one of my females (incidentally, the only one who's housed with a male at the moment) keeps trying to dig through the paper in her warm hide. She has a wet hide with coco fiber in it. She knows where it is. She's dug in it before. What gives? Why would she suddenly decide she needs to dig through the paper?

Do you think I should move the wet hide to the warm side?

 

[MellowMan24]

is it possible that she might have late eggs on the way?

 

[gaparicio]

is it possible that she might have late eggs on the way?

You would be able to tell just by looking at her underbelly.

 

[Khrysty]

Yeah, see, I thought that was egg laying behavior too. Except I'm pretty sure I don't see any eggs. She's such a fat girl that a lot of times I mistake her little fat pockets on either side of her abdomen for eggs. Part of me is hoping she's got some eggs coming (they'd be early, rather than late--as she stopped laying in June this year) because I love the anticipation of waiting for them to hatch, but I'm not anywhere near prepared for hatchlings.

At any rate, can anyone think of any OTHER reason she might try to dig? Or is egg laying the only one you can think of? It seems she only starts this at night (around 1am or so) and stops digging when the sun comes up (that's when she sleeps)

 

[gaparicio]

Sometimes there are really no answers. Some of my females and even my males love to dig around their hides. Some even like to dig so much that they even partially cover the entrance or even kick the substrate completely out. I figure they just like to feel safe every now and again.

If she had eggs, you most certainly would be able to tell. Her little fat pockets around her armpits doesn't compare to the two large white masses inside her close to her stomach.

 

[Khrysty]

Her little fat pockets around her armpits doesn't compare to the two large white masses inside her close to her stomach.

No, I wasn't talking about those. She (and most of my geckos actually, as they're all quite fat) has fat deposits on either side of her abdomen (belly, whatever you want to call it) that are placed in a similar position as large ready-to-lay eggs would be. You've never seen that? The eggs are brighter through her skin, though. So, as I said, if she's not carrying eggs and I don't have that color comparison (a dull white through the skin as opposed to the bright white of her eggs) it's sometimes easy to mistake the fat deposits for eggs.

Also, as I said, I'm pretty sure all that's in her belly is organs and fat

Maybe she's just crazy haha