Help! Newbie question

I have bred my female about 3 weeks ago. She has been scratching around her cage and pacing for about 2 days. She has stopped eating as much and her area down there is bulging. She has put on about 22 grams since breeding and then lost 8 grams as of yesterday ( in 3 days time).

So I have put her in a seperate cage tonight with soil and vermiculite mixed and moistened. I made a large "hill" on one side for digging. She doesn't seem very interested in digging in there. I have covered the side of the cage with the hill and put a ceramic heat lamp on the other. All she is interested in is getting out at this point. The hovabator is running and ready.

Should I leave her in there a few days or take her out and try again tommorow?
Does this sound like she is ready to lay or just preparing? I have done a lot of reading on breeding before starting but now that it's actually here I want to make sure.

Hi! Females will often scratch around and pace for a few days before they are actually ready to lay. You may have to put her in and take her out of the lay-box several times over the next few days. Be patient with her, lol!

Jamie

I just leave them in there. Sometimes the soil is not warm or moist enough for their tastes at the time. Majority will lay later in the daylight cycle you have set for them. This is also unfamiliar territory for her, so give her time to get used to it. She will settle down and start digging around when she is ready. She is close! Don't give up just yet and confuse her more by moving her all the time. When she needs to lay them, she will reguardless of where she is, so make sure she is in a proper place to do so if you plan on incubating the eggs. Otherwise they could dry out, get trampled, or even smashed (I've seen this). I have one female that doesn't lay during daylight, can't feel the eggs in her, and eats up until hours before she is going to lay. She is not easy to get the eggs from, she is sneaky. Everyone is different. Just leave her be, least that is what I would do.