G.vorax

[DNA Reptiles]

This may be the 2nd time you have heard this (my computer is acting and I don't see the first post anywhere!)....
We had our first vorax egg hatch yesterday - boy are they fast. I hope to be able to post some pictures on the week-end when Braydon is here to hold the cage lid open!
It has been quite the days for vorax as David bought me two very beautifuly females from Lowell Shaw to add to our collection.

[Clownfishie]

Awesome, congrats! :D Can't wait to see pics...

[Sean_.E.]

Congratulations! I'd love to see the pics when you get them!

[Tim and Julie B]

Congrats! Have you given them a shallow water dish to swim in? Apparently they are quite the swimmers when young:DHow big are they?

Julie

[sara]

Congrats on the new hatchlings. My adult male loves to swim when he gets the chance, they can actually float... it's really neat to see. :D

[Katt]

I had no idea these guys liked to swim. I'll give him a big bowl to swim in.

Are any of yours friendly??

Congrats on the baby!

[Skink Keeper]

Congrats on the new baby. can't wait for some pics.

[Wuntu Menny]

Andrea, just wait until all those females start producing! With only two laying for me, I was swamped with babies within a year. I can't imagine dealing with the number you guys will be popping out!

Congrats again and have fun!

Sara,
that's interesting to hear about your swimming male. I've only seen this behaviour in hatchlings and never tried to offer a chance to adults. Obviously, there needs to be more research on natural history as it would seem that they are well suited to travelling through water. This could make for a really cool future enclosure!

WM

[sara]

yeah, I had no idea they liked to swim until he jumped into the bath tub with my b.f. a few months ago. ;) After that we put a large water source in with him and he seems to enjoy submerging himself to check out the corners. I was completely stunned at how well they float and keep their balance. He's pretty strange for a g. vorax as it is, so I guess I shouldn't be too suprised that he would do something like this as well. :p It would definitely be interesting to see whether other adults retain this behavior...

[TheRedDragon]

Congratulations on the new baby. :)

[geckoguy157]

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/1241DSC00284-med.JPG

here's a picture of one of the baby's that they hatched out

[DNA Reptiles]

Thanks Braydon for getting the photo together!! They certainly seem to be slowing down now and are not nearly so skittish. Peach baby food is working well, although I haven't actually seen any of them eat crickets as yet. I guess the other eggs should start hatching in a few more weeks.
I am revamping my cage Lowell for the two females - I like the idea of aquatic vorax!!

[Wuntu Menny]

We just hatched another pair yesterday too. They are the fourth clutch from our second bloodline. Unfortunately, they will also be about the last from that line as we lost the female last week.

It was one of the strangest situations I've witnessed. The female got severely mauled by her mate a couple of months ago. They were separated immediately but she looked pretty bad. She survived the attack alright, but then proceeded to refuse food for the next three weeks. She finally resumed a normal feeding routine and, just as it looked like she would make a full recovery, she hops to the cage floor and breaks her lower jaw!

She barely tapped her chin on the substrate and the lower mandible fractured on both sides! At first I thought the gaping mouth was a threat display but soon realized what she'd done. When I took her out for a closer look, I find that entire cranium has turned to rubber! Her skull had the consistency of a warm gummy bear. We had no choice but to put her down.

All I can think of is that the demands on her systems to heal the injuries compounded by the lack of food resulted in such a depletion of reserves that she began to metabolize tissues. There was no visible weight loss or any indications that she was going downhill. She actually appeared to improving almost daily until this happened.

I'm a little puzzled, any opinions?

WM

[DNA Reptiles]

your PM box is full!!.... I have e-mailed you Lowell.

[sara]

:S sounds awful... definitely wouldn't want to see that. I've haven't heard of anything that fits the circumstances , maybe a bacterial or viral infection resulting from the wounds & immune system stress might do something along those lines... but even then... I'm sorry to hear about your girl.

[Wuntu Menny]

Got your email Andrea. Nice baby pic by the way! I don't know how you get them to slow down though. Our little ones tear around like gecko tornados until they get too big to move that fast. Are the new arrivals very vocal? I've found that they demonstrate their willingness to chatter right out of the egg. Those that pitch a fit and squawk loudly tend to be much more vocal as they grow up while the ones that barely let out a peep remain so.

Sara:
While there was no apparent infection, I guess anything is possible as no necropsy was performed. She was originally liberated from a pet store where she wasn't being looked after properly. Her condition and disposition improved greatly in our care and aside from a couple of domestic disputes, she did very well. Due to her unknown history, there is no way of knowing how old she was, so age may have played a role in this as well.

We still have our original breeding pair and the two of them are doing excellent. In light of recent discussion on the subject, I'm trying to design a new enclosure for them with a water feature. Its nice that we're starting to establish a little vorax keepers network. I'm sure the shared observations and different interpretations of behaviour will benefit all of us.

BTW, I liked your old avatar better! This one is nice but...well, you know. lol!

WM

[DNA Reptiles]

Braydon took the baby picture as I gave him one to take care of for experience etc. The babies have not been very local to date and one just "squeacked" when I touched it by mistake moving a branch. Did you have any more thoughts on the "jaw" subject and did anything make sence in my e-mail on my experience with the dropped jaw?

[Wuntu Menny]

The only thing I can think of is a calcium issue. There may very well be some other component that we're not aware of. There might be some dietary element that's being overlooked, a specific disease, or some other primary cause. At any rate, I'm re-examining my husbandry parameters to avoid any recurrence in other specimens.

[DNA Reptiles]

Thanks Lowell, let's compare notes from time to time on this one. Just wondering how we could get anymore calcium into them than we already to.

[Tim and Julie B]

Well, I have been giving mine calcium in 3 forms. Liquid, powder and plain yogurt mixed into their fruit smoothies! I also tried to leave a small dish of the powder in their enclosures, but only the female has shown any interest. Otherwise the powder just goes on thier insects.

My male decided to play "escapee" for a couple of days. Found him lounging on the leg of my step ladder. Guess he thought he was blending well enough. I reached down, picked him up, and hey! no biting. I was prepared to be chomped on and gritted my teeth, but in the end I ended up with sore jaws and a content gecko:D

I am just now re-building new enclosures for the two. Both will be equipped with water basins deep enough that they can't drown. I am thinking of using coconut substrate, about 2 inches deep. Good for egg deposition and soft enough for them to land in should they fall. I would prefer live plants, but the fakies are much easier to maintain and clean. I plan to have some "suspended" humid hides and dry hides too, wall mounted at intervals of 1/3's of the cage height. Any other suggestions would be great.

Lowell- Sorry to hear about the female. Sometimes these things happen for no good reason. I have had countless recoveries go south on me after showing 100% improvement. Perhaps age has more to do with it in the end. It's much harder on the body to heal the older something is.

Take care everyone!:D
Julie B

[Wuntu Menny]

That sounds like a great setup Julie. We recently moved our primary breeding pair into a 55 gal on end. They seem to enjoy the extra space and spend the whole night cruising. We added some suspended perches and a planter that the female has now adopted as her daytime hangout. I was taking measurements today to see if I can finally move a huge cage in from the garage. Its 4wx4hx3d with recessed lighting and sliding glass doors. With a little reno it should make for a nice gecko palace.

An interesting note on the Cal issue: Both of the adult WC females we obtained developed very pronounced calcium sacs within a couple of weeks in our care. Once they began producing eggs, the sacs virtually disappeared from an external POV. though they still remain visible if viewed through a gaping maw.

Our original female has been producing eggs constantly for almost two years now and shows no signs of weakness or deficiency. Also, I had to transfer the pair of them to temp housing for cleaning last week. The female was her usual homocidal self but the male, after not being handled for almost two years, climbed up my arm and hungout on the back of my neck for 45 minutes! I was amazed at how completely at ease he was. I need to get some pix next time.

WM

[DNA Reptiles]

I'd love to see some pics Lowell. Interesting point on the calcium sacs - I guess we want to see the calcium sacs full at all times. How can you open their mouths to check, should you be lucky enough to handle them? Any tricks there?
My new baby is becoming much tamer now, but no vocals as yet.

[Wuntu Menny]

Normally just catching them is enough to warrant a good gape for inspection purposes. I imagine one could gently palpate the neck area to feel for them as well. I don't like to do it, but its not difficult to get them to bite something. I might try using some sort of soft target that won't damage the teeth (besides my fingers) and let them chew on that while taking a peek. A little external light source would probably help in this too.

WM