is she actually eating the dirt?

[labomb]

This gal kept burying her whole head in the dirt, I couldn't tell if she was trying to bury herself, or was actually eating the dirt? when she came up for air, she had dirt all around her mouth which she licked clean. can this be harmful? she is a chunky monkey about 8 months old and weighs 32g. she has a good appetite and gets plenty to eat with supplements. so why would she want to eat dirt? or is this how they dig?


UPDATE! eggs have hatched two healthy cresties and another clutch was laid 6weeks after these and they are fertile! No male around in months!

[clint545]

I'm assumming that she is gravid? Some of my girls do the same thing when they're scoping out laying spots. No ill effects as of yet..

[stickytoedgecko]

I tend to agree with Clint. We've seen some of our little girls burried so that all thats sticking out is a tail. Low and behold, the next day there was a couple of eggs!

But being 8 months old, could she be gravid? I've seen some of our babies dig like that before they shed, or if there cold. But your right. Thats how they dig, and they all do it.

Max

[labomb]

well the remote possibility was there for her to be gravid as I had a male sneak into her side of the tank several weeks ago before moving her to a new one to share with another female. He had squeezed over the top of the plastic divider. She does not appear to have eggs in her belly, but she is fat to begin with.

But the more curious thing is that when her female companion of the same age woke up for the evening, she too joined in the dig. It was funny to watch, but still disturbing that they may be actually ingesting the dirt. I threw in some crickets to distract them, they took a break to hunt crickets, and then went back to their search through the dirt. it isn't cold at all, we are in a heat wave and their room is humid and 76, warmer than the rest of my house. could they be playing house? maybe that is what was wrong with my adult female that lays eggs on the paper towel and never burries them in the nesting box. maybe because she never learned to play house :)

[mmichele]

This gal kept burying her whole head in the dirt, I couldn't tell if she was trying to bury herself, or was actually eating the dirt? when she came up for air, she had dirt all around her mouth which she licked clean. can this be harmful? she is a chunky monkey about 8 months old and weighs 32g. she has a good appetite and gets plenty to eat with supplements. so why would she want to eat dirt? or is this how they dig? she is a chunkey monkey about 8 months oldand weighs 32 grams.

[mmichele]

does chunkey monkey meen fat? i dont think it could be to harmful do you have a male she could be laying eggs

[labomb]

yes I call her and my other young female my chunky monkies because they are very fat and have grown faster than my first couple cresteds ever did. they are much bigger than two of my adults. they are not a year old yet so I have kept them seperated from my males, accept for a time when one male got in with this one gal. but I don't think she is carrying eggs at this point.

here is a pic of my other chunky monkey who joined in the dig after I had posted.

[clint545]

If the temps are high where you are, the west coast?, like they are here(to put it mildly), they might be digging to cool down. Once they've dug down do they tend to stay there for a while? What time of day is this happening?

[labomb]

It isn't that warm in their room, about 76degree range. no they aren't staying buried, they appear to be playing around, digging and rooting and burying their heads. this happened yesterday evening when they woke up. It's the first I have noticed it although I suspect they have done it before. I am in virginia, temps outside in upper 80's-90's but we are airconditioned and I control the reptile room temps.

[Rikki]

That is very strange, I originally though she may be gravid. Though it may be something with the temps of the enclosure. Its something to think about.

[clint545]

How old and big is the second one that has started in too? Did she have contact with the male as well?

[labomb]

the second female is approx 8 months old also. she has never been with a male.

[Rikki]

That what im questioning, I dont see what she could be doing honestly unless it has something to do with the temp in the enclosure.

[labomb]

Oh My Goodness, she did lay two eggs! but they couldn't possibly be fertile could they? it's been probably 2 months since she was with the male. and why would the second female be digging with her? she was never exposed to a male....

[clint545]

Give those eggs a go for sure! If it's been 2 months they might not be fertile but it won't hurt to try:) I have one female that's never been with a male but she still lays the odd egg here and there. I think they do it as a "dry run" to see if all systems are a go, as they mature and get closer to breeding age.
I would be keeping a close eye on them, if they're only 8 months and laying they might crash. Laying eggs will deplete their calcuim sacs quite a bit.

[Rikki]

I doubt they are fertile, though you could still give them a try.

[DragnDrop]

There definitely is a good chance that they're fertile. Rhacs generally don't ovulate unless they've been mated. It's very uncommon for unmated females to lay eggs, mating stimulated egg production. You might find a young female lay an infertile clutch when she first reaches sexual maturity, but not normally after that. Since she did have access to a male, and she laid eggs, I'd assume they're fertile, since it's a more likely scenario than her laying infertile eggs after possibly mating.
My single solitary unmated male leachianus 'Oscar' laid a clutch of infertile eggs when 'he' reached maturity. Now he's 'Lady Oscar' :)

[stickytoedgecko]

Are you sure they are only eight months? Could they possibly be older?

[labomb]

they were very tiny little critters when I got them, about the size of a two week old last december. 8 months is stretching it. they appear much older now, they are bigger than a couple of my adults. maybe because I give them unlimited crickets along with the "recipe" every night and they eat everything up. my adults were raised slightly different, only fed crickets a couple times a week alternated with baby food.

[stickytoedgecko]

I was only asking as sometimes you can never really tell what age they are, unless you buy them from a breeder that knows when they hatched :D

Congrats on the eggs though!!!

[Bighead]

And you're sure they're both females, right?

[labomb]

yes they are both females in the same tank now. it was a couple months ago when one of my males got in with her, as I posted earlier, she shared a tank with a male and I had a screen divider seperating them. I went in one morning and they had traded spaces. they are on seperate sides of the room now, no more hanky panky. maybe it was hilde's recipe that made them grow up so fast :)

[labomb]

:zi:
well The eggs laid by my female months after being exposed to a male have hatched two healthy little cresties! and then she unexpectedly laid another clutch six weeks after laying these, and this clutch also appear to be fertile! I did a bit of research and have learned that they can lay fertile eggs up to 5 YEARS after being with a male!
Now what am I going to do with all these cresties, I can't bare to give them away for fear someone won't take proper care of them. I have gotten attached to all but I am overwhelmed! It takes me a whole day out of the week to clean out aquariums and I spend a good hour or more feeding/misting and checking them over every night.

[DragnDrop]

Congrats on the new babies, even if you're in panic mode right now :)

I don't know where you heard/read about them being able to lay fertile eggs for 5 years, that's pushing it a bit. One year or so is about the max I've ever experienced in my collection, and about all anyone has admitted to. One season is the norm, maybe the first clutch of the next year so that she can lay a fertile clutch in case a male doesn't happen to be handy, but there's no way I'd expect more fertile eggs than that from last year's mating.

If you can't keep the babies, or don't want to because you feel you aren't up to keeping a collection that big, you can find decent homes for them and not have a guilty conscience. Just advertise them in a place like this forum where you know 'real' herpers hang out. Ask a lot of questions, hope that someone with current crestie experience is interested. Or contact a local herp society, lots of serious herpers there who would know how to properly care for them.

Should you decide to keep them, you don't have too much to worry about though. A young female probably won't produce a record number of eggs, maybe 4-5 clutches the first year, might not be that many since she was a bit on the young side. You can set the babies up in pairs for a few months in large critter keepers or 3-4 of them in 10 gallon tanks, gives you a chance to find good homes for them.