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Vital Exotics
12-17-12, 05:35 AM
I went to the Monitor enclosures today actually to check on or dig up a clutch that is due any day from a Black Dragon male to a Female High Yellow Pro Exotics Sumatran, and found an even better surprise!...

I had one of the female Black Dragons paired up in October and early November with the male Black Dragon, this is the first and only male she has ever been paired with in her life, and I only had the male Black Dragon with her...I saw signs of mating, but had no visual lock confirmations, I thought they had bred, but I was unsure what had happened for sure as this female is very shy and hard to always see what is going on with her. She hides a lot, does not allow very much handling and I have only had her since September. She came from substandard conditions, but I did tell the guy who I got her from, about 4 months before I received her to start feeding her much heavier and to up her temps (she scattered a clutch of infertiles for him about 2 months after he started implementing the better conditions), then I got her, set her up and put her on my feeding schedule and in my enclosures with deeper, heated substrate.

....Over the last two weeks I had been seeing signs of her either being gravid or starting a new cycle, and my thoughts were that she was gravid, I introduced the Black Dragon male to her a few times this week and he had no interest at all in her, and she was test digging, so I was leaning towards her being gravid, but I was still not 100% convinced one way or the other for sure, as I had no good history to base anything off for her...Well here is the answer...6 good looking eggs and 8 infertiles. They were nested all together 2' deep, at 85 degrees, right where she test dug most frequently, and she had built a large mound around the area similar to my other females. I have only had this female since September, so hopefully now I can get her in better body condition to lay a full fertile clutch. Needless to say I am very happy...thats two clutches from 2 Black Dragon females in 2 weeks and another one due any day now from the Black Dragon male to a Pro Exotics Sumatran female. I will keep you guys posted.

The 6 "good" looking eggs:
http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h346/VitalExotics/Black-x-Black-1500.jpg

Nested clutch after some major excavation from me:
http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h346/VitalExotics/BD-Clutch-1-500.jpg

This female test digging:
http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h346/VitalExotics/Black-01-2b500.jpg

The male being introduced to another Black Dragon Female:
http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h346/VitalExotics/Black-11-Intro-1500.jpg

Some of the few pics I have been able to get of the female who laid this clutch:
http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h346/VitalExotics/Black-01-2c500.jpg

http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h346/VitalExotics/Black-01-2a500.jpg

jarich
12-17-12, 08:38 AM
Awesome animals man, congratulations on the eggs. Here's hoping they are viable.

UwabamiReptiles
12-17-12, 10:04 AM
Thats awesome, not many people working with black dragons. I've seen one or two in person before and they are breath-taking to say the least.

philipniceguy
12-18-12, 04:22 PM
just a amazing group of komaini. I wish you all the best with the incubation

EmbraceCalamity
12-18-12, 04:27 PM
Those things are so cool! I can't wait to see the babies. :D

~Maggot

millertime89
12-18-12, 04:53 PM
Congrats bud, super excited to see the babies. What's the incubation period on these?

Vital Exotics
12-18-12, 09:18 PM
Thanks everyone!

Kyle, incubation is...6 to 6.5 months...lots of waiting on this species!

millertime89
12-19-12, 10:28 AM
That's not too bad, I think Lace Monitors are 8-9 and since they're pretty closely related I thought it would be that long. These guys should hatch just in time for my birthday!

AjaMichelle
12-20-12, 08:00 PM
That's so exciting! Congratulations! :)