Lacerta Clutch Update

**lady_bug87** · 09-11-11, 10:45 AM

Its sad to say this but we lost our first clutch of lacerta eggs, to be fair I wasnt sure if they were viable or even fertile but it still sucks my female laid them 3 weeks ago while we were on vacation and we didnt get to them for 2 weeks I'm afraid she stepped all over them

this morning I was checking them and they were all dried and deflated and yellow and hard

Its sad and I feel terribly about it but she may lay more in the next couple weeks so I will get another chance

I would appreciate any advice anyone may have so I can be successful with my next clutch

Sapphyr · 09-11-11, 06:05 PM

Aww, sorry to hear about the misfortune. D: Though, I've never heard of a mother snake crushing her own eggs with her weight, then again, I don't know all that much about breeding, since I'm not in that field quite yet.

Hope you have better luck with the next clutch.

Gungirl · 09-11-11, 07:08 PM

Thats a huge bummer .. I cant offer any advice but I hope she will lay again. I sooo want to see babies from her!

**lady_bug87** · 09-12-11, 06:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sapphyr

Aww, sorry to hear about the misfortune. D: Though, I've never heard of a mother snake crushing her own eggs with her weight, then again, I don't know all that much about breeding, since I'm not in that field quite yet.

Hope you have better luck with the next clutch.

Jeweled lacertas are lizards if you. Look at my thread entitled 'pictures' you will see what they look like

@Gungirl: I know I'm bummed that the eggs didn't make it especially since I kept the temps and humidity to where the meager information told me to, I guess that's what happens when you have eggs from something with no info

and her and my male are so pretty I can't help but wonder.

stephanbakir · 09-12-11, 06:43 AM

You can torch most eggs to find out if they are fertile, get a small high powered flashlight and place it against the side of the egg, if you see veins its fertile. MAKE SURE NOT TO TURN REPTILE EGGS, keep them in the same orientation they were found.

How do you plan on incubating them, some eggs like python eggs require very specific temps and humidity while eggs like colubrid eggs can survive larger temperature and humidity variations. I know what you own isn't a snake but I'd think the same rules apply, finding out the limitations of the eggs you we working with would be important.

Why do you suspect a double clutch?

Sapphyr · 09-12-11, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lady_bug87

Jeweled lacertas are lizards if you. Look at my thread entitled 'pictures' you will see what they look like

Ahhh, sorry, my bad.~ c:

Gungirl · 09-12-11, 07:53 AM

Could you just leave the eggs with your lizards? maybe try letting them incubate on there own. I wish you where in the states.. I would buy up some babies when you have them!

**lady_bug87** · 09-12-11, 08:19 AM

@ stephanbakir- The problem with torching these particular eggs is that when we found them there was a bunch all stuck together and they had hardened so it made looking at individual eggs difficult especially since i was afraid to pull them apart. we saw veins in one of them so we incubated the whole group again because I was afraid to pull them apart.

to incubate i have a zoomed incubator and I used little tupperware with damp vemilite (sp?) I kept the temp at 84 degrees and the humidity in the high 70s we can expect a double clutch because this particular species lay up to 3 in one season all 6 weeks apart laying between 8 and 20 eggs per clutch I plan on being even more diligent if she lays again obsessively so, when we went away I wasnt expecting her to lay but i left a lay box just in case (we actually weren't expecting them to breed so we were a tad unprepared) and I used some coconut moss (damp) with some of her substrate sand and she layed in there without a problem then she covered them in about 3 inches of sand from her enclosure when we came home we literally had to dig through to check and when we did that we realized that she had stepped on some of them. I'm wondering if i should replace the sand coco mixture in her lay box with spagnum moss or vermilite (sp?) since it will hold more moisture

@Gungirl: I spoke to one of the suppliers here in Ontario that actually has successful hatches and he takes them away from the female because he said that she will sometimes not recognize her own eggs and they eat them or kill them or the male gets at them though when we left for our honeymoon I split them up so she was alone in a separate tank when she dropped the eggs, I found my pair by fluke but I am sure there are breeders in the states you just may have to search!

I will keep the forums posted if I get any more eggs *fingers crossed*

stephanbakir · 09-12-11, 08:29 AM

You should be able to separate the eggs, if you tear one slightly, put a bandaid on it but if you are careful that shouldn't happen. Even if a slug is stuck to an egg, its decomposing shouldn't hurt your eggs but if you are worried what you can do is take a razor blade and cut the shell of the dead egg so you will have a fertile egg with a piece of shell from the dead egg but no contents to go bad.

**lady_bug87** · 09-12-11, 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stephanbakir

You should be able to separate the eggs, if you tear one slightly, put a bandaid on it but if you are careful that shouldn't happen. Even if a slug is stuck to an egg, its decomposing shouldn't hurt your eggs but if you are worried what you can do is take a razor blade and cut the shell of the dead egg so you will have a fertile egg with a piece of shell from the dead egg but no contents to go bad.

Thanks I will try that next time, I'm hoping I will be home the next time she lays so that I can catch them right away or within a day so that I can separate them and torch them but since its the wrong time of year I'm thinking they may have been mostly slugs... :s

Now here is my next question, since they already mated and she already laid a clutch should I still brummate them this season?

stephanbakir · 09-12-11, 09:06 AM

Since they are already in season, brumating won't do that much regarding getting them "in the mood" but if these guys are anything like retics, cooling the male is a great idea because cooling males increases sperm count leading to a higher quantity of fertile eggs.

**lady_bug87** · 09-12-11, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stephanbakir

Since they are already in season, brumating won't do that much regarding getting them "in the mood" but if these guys are anything like retics, cooling the male is a great idea because cooling males increases sperm count leading to a higher quantity of fertile eggs.

Thanks! I am going to the reptile expo here in Toronto next weekend hopefully I will find someone there who breeds them and can give me more information. There really isn't much on the web at all so I knew there would be some trial and error.

stephanbakir · 09-12-11, 12:51 PM

Careful with that! I have no idea how the lacerta world is, but it used to be really common in the retic world for breeders to deliberately mislead you and have you clutch fail.
They tried to get your clutch to fail so you got discouraged and quit, less competition.

**lady_bug87** · 09-12-11, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stephanbakir

Careful with that! I have no idea how the lacerta world is, but it used to be really common in the retic world for breeders to deliberately mislead you and have you clutch fail.
They tried to get your clutch to fail so you got discouraged and quit, less competition.

Thanks for the heads-up I can totally see that happening even though I have no intentions of being a commercial breeder especially with just the one pair I have. Its more for the hobby of it. of course I will be responsible about who I sell babies to but like I said its just a hobby so I'm really not a threat though my 2 are both gorgeous :P

stephanbakir · 09-12-11, 01:33 PM

All I'm saying is don't take it to the bank, ask them then verify it online and from other people.