and i thought they hated them?! [Archive]

Bartman

07-24-04, 08:12 PM

Today my parents bought me a pair of beardies! He knew I had a tank we built a while back so he decided to get me a pair of beardies because one of his friends son didnt look after them much. There both adults as far as I can tell and its a pair forsure. They've been together for almost ever the guy said. Now the male has a little cut or something on his mouth. Im assuming its from rubbing against the glass but im not to sure. Im going to get a fecal done whenever they do their thing.

Also, ive never bred or read anything on breeding beardies. Well all I know is that you need a laying box that is just a large rubbermade with sand and a hole at the top and I was told they need a cooling period. Is this right?

Also how can I tell if the female is pregnant now...and if not is it normal she isnt even though shes been with a male for a very long time? Is their anything I need to do to activate their breeding responses.

The darker one (if you can tell) is the male and the lighter is the female. The male has the thing on his lip (herpies :p) the one in the back of the group shot is the male

http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v281/BartmanReptiles/cuthingy.jpg
http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/1953Pair_o_beardies_-med.JPG

ICULIZARD

07-25-04, 01:21 AM

Here's our caresheet on egg-laying and incubating dragon eggs. Hope it helps. Your female could be gravid if she has been kept with the male...hopefully is she is, she's over 14 months old. You can tell when a gravid dragon is close to laying eggs as you can see the eggs. They will appear as marble sized bumps on both sides of the belly. For now, I would reccomend seperating them until you have done the research....try and learn as much as you can before this situation comes up. Even if she has been with the male, she may not be gravid. It all depends on how she has been cycled and the conditions in which she lived.

:)

When your female dragon is showing signs that she is gravid and starts digging in her enclosure it’s time to prepare the egg-laying site.

Try and make your gravid female as comfortable as possible, if she is still with the male take him out and put him into another enclosure. When breeding always have extra enclosures with heat and uvb on hand! This is especially important as you do not want your female breeding all the time. This will shorten her life dramatically and is very unfair. After she has laid her eggs we recommend that you do not put her back with the male for at least a month. Make sure that she is well hydrated and has the proper amounts of veggies and gutloaded crickets, silkworms, butters and proper supplementation.

To prepare her regular enclosure for egg-laying, you have to add a laying site. This can be done easily with a Rubbermaid dishpan that is filled to 1” from the top with dampened soil or dampened sand and pack it down with your hand. Put it in the spot that she has been digging in the enclosure. It should be damp enough that when you try to make a “tunnel”, the sand packs together and does not collapse.

Once she has made a burrow, leave her alone as much as possible. You do not want to disturb her during this time. After she lays her eggs she will come out of the burrow and start covering up the eggs. The finishing stages look like they could harm the eggs but they won’t so do not interfere. She will pack down the sand or soil with her nose over and over until she is satisfied. Once she leaves the area, you may remove the dishpan and begin retrieving the eggs. Make sure that your incubator is already calibrated to 82-84, you do not want to leave this until the last minute as it takes time to properly hold the desired temperature.

If she fails to lay the eggs within 48 hours of when frantic digging starts, there may be a problem such as:

· Improper moisture content of the laying substrate
· Female that is too young
· She may be too weak (lack of calcium etc)
· Eggbound

If your female begins to look weak and is no longer trying to lay her eggs it is time to get her to an experienced reptile vet. She may be eggbound and require an injection of Calcium and possibly Oxytocin.

SETTING UP THE INCUBATOR

We use the Hovobator 1602N without any problems. It’s the cheapest Hovobator with no fan and works really well.

Pour water into the bottom, look at the instructions for the Hovobator to show you where. Calibrate the incubator according to their instructions to reach 82-84 degrees.

INCUBATING BEARDED DRAGON EGGS

You have the dishpan in front of you…….Now what?!
1) Get the egg containers ready. Put 1-2 Inches of Vermiculite in the container and then moisten it with water. It should be damp but not wet and when pinched in the fingers should feel damp but not drip water. Make indentations in the vermiculite with your finger to lay the eggs in.
2) Carefully dig up the eggs, one at a time with your fingers. Lift the egg straight up and put it down in one of the indents in your container. Do not turn the egg, keep the side that was up when laid up in your egg container. We keep 40% of the eggs surface exposed; the rest is covered by the vermiculite. After this process is done you do not move the eggs again as turning will have disastrous consequences. We never candle our eggs as it is obvious when an egg has gone bad by the look and sometimes smell. Do not put too many eggs in each container since you want space on all sides to allow for growth.
3) Once all the eggs have been put in the new container, put the lid with air holes on and mark the top with a Sharpie. Put the following information on there:
· Clutch reference number
· Name of parents
· Date laid
· Number of eggs
4) Put the container(s) into your incubator that has already been calibrated to 82-84 degrees. Do not rely on the thermometer that comes with the Hovobator, also get a digital thermometer with probe and place the probe inside the incubator to make sure the ideal temperature is reached and maintained. Keep the incubator in an area of your house like the basement that does not suffer major temperature changes. Your Hovobator can only heat, not cool the eggs.
Hatching usually occurs between 55-75 days. Keep a close eye on the incubating medium to make sure that the vermiculite has not dried out and add more water if needed. If eggs begin to dent, lightly spray them and the vermiculite with water and the dents should disappear within a few days. Healthy eggs are shades of pink and white; any obviously “yellow” or mouldy eggs should be thrown away so they don’t infect the healthy eggs.
When the eggs start to hatch…..
· When a baby hatches and is COMPLETELY out of the egg, move it to another container with air holes and leave that in the incubator until the dragon is active. Once the baby is showing signs of activity, move her to rearing bin or enclosure. This usually happens within 12 hours.
· DO NOT pull a baby from an egg as they will most probably die. If they are not strong enough at this stage to slit the egg and come out by themselves they do not have a promising future.
· As babies grow they will need to be separated into different bins according to size. Setting up a simple rack system, e-mail us if you would like a photo.