A very cool birthday surprise

Normally, my birthday is just another day. We may go to dinner or I may grab the latest Sims expansion pack, but it isn’t a day I treat very different from any other. This year, though, will be one I remember for quite some time. What makes today so special? Let me tell you…

After returning home today from picking up my daughter from school, I walked by my reptile cages as I do several times a day. I glanced inside to see how they were doing and what do I see? Eggs! Lots and lots of eggs in the Bearded Dragon cage. It took me so completely by surprise that at first I didn’t even recognize them for what they were. I had some absurd thought “Neo is playing with a a ball”. (He was sitting in the corner with the eggs at the time swinging his arms around).

Ironically, I had just taken pictures yesterday of these guys. The picture here shows Trinity (top) and Neo (bottom). At the time, I had no idea Trin was even expecting!

As soon as I realized Trinity had laid a clutch of potential baby beardies, I immediately grabbed a gladware container and carefully took the eggs out of the cage. I laid them on a moist paper towel inside the plastic dish until I could figure out what to do next. There were 22 eggs total, but unfortunately, Neo stepped on one before I could extricate it. So, we were left with 21 eggs.

I pulled out my The Bearded Dragon Manual and read up on how to care for newly hatched eggs. The information in the book combined with that I found on the Internet said I needed an incubator. It was already getting late, so I opted to use my spare cage overnight with an under tank heater to keep the temperature and humidity up. I made a quick trip to Lowe’s to grab the 3 small bags of Vermiculite they had on the shelves and set about making the temporary cage comfortable.

The eggs are now in the cage and I hope it will keep them healthy until I can locate an incubator. How exciting this all is. Our first reptile eggs!