Mary was gravid.
At first, we had no clue what was going on. She was eating less but didn't seem to be losing any weight. In fact, she seemed to be getting bigger. On top of that, she started behaving very erratically.
This year Mary did a lot more digging than she had in 2004. As soon as the strange behavior and eating less began, we went right out and bought the necessary ingredients to make a nesting box for her. We put the reptarium on its side and put both Mary and the nesting box inside.
Unfortunately, we had no way of knowing that Mary wouldn't adhere to the same schedule she had in 2004. Instead of laying her eggs in early March, Mary didn't get around to egging until late April. This meant she spent about 4 weeks more in the reptarium this year than last. Four extra weeks of digging and scratching.
And it breaks my heart to have to admit that it appears I didn't keep the dirt moist enough for her.
When Mary had finally laid the bulk of her eggs (48 during the initial lay, an additional dozen over the next week), the first thing we did was put her in a nice tub of warm water. This was as much to help her relax and feel better as it was to wash all the dirt off of her.
Her poor little feet were the dirtiest of all, and even after a couple of good soakings and light scrubs, they still appeared caked with dirt.
Two days ago (May 4, 2005), when Mary came out of the tub we saw that she was leaving bloody footprints behind everywhere she went. At first, my husband I thought she had cut herself trying to get out of the tub, but when we got her wrapped up in a towel for a closer look we saw what was really going on.
Mary's feet hadn't been caked with mud after all, but dried blood and dying scales. She had torn her feet up something fierce with all that digging in the too-dry dirt.
The photos below were taken on May 6, 2005. We haven't taken her to the vet yet as the vet has been unavailable. We will try to take her in on Monday. In the meantime, we are treating her feet with betadine, peroxide, and antibiotic ointment.
May 11, 2005
Mary's feet are improving greatly. We are treating her ourselves for the time being.
May 29, 2005
As you can see, Mary's feet are healing quite nicely. We never did get her to the vet as he was on vacation when this first started. Now that she is healing so well, we see no need to take her in at this time.
June 26, 2005
Mary's feet are fully recovered now. She does not appear to have any scarring and she does not favor any of her feet as though they pain her anymore. Lesson learned - next year when nesting time comes we will be certain that she only has soft, moist dirt to dig in.