23 Eggs! Helping Mom bounce back

My sweet girl laid 22 eggs and 1 slug today! Last year she had 13, so I was kind of shocked. Really excited, but a bit worried about the mom. It took her about 24 hours to get them all out, and she looks SO tired now. Hasn’t eaten in about 3 weeks. Should I try a smaller meal first? Calcium powder?

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Yes and yes. Start out with something like a small hopper with a small amount of calcium powder on it. Keep up the smaller meals for a couple of weeks slowly increasing every time and dusting every other week for 4 or so feedings. I would also recommend giving her a 30 minute soak just to get her hydrated.

@noodlehaus @solarserpents can probably give some other advise as well

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Congrats! Good luck with the clutch. A small meal with a pinch of calcium dust should be good.

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Yup, I always do a few smaller meals for moms who have just laid. I usually start with a hopper and then keep them on a 5 day feeding schedule while I increase the size slowly.

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I agree with the advice already given! :grin:

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Update: Mom still seems quite tired, but she took her meal and drank some water. Candled the eggs and could see good veins in all but maybe 2 of them (embryo but no noticeable vein growth yet), so I’m hopeful for a large and successful clutch!

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Congratulations! That all sounds like things are going well. Keep taking good care of mama and she should recover well. One day in June or July, you’ll have a bunch of babies!

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