Posted by:
jobi
at Tue Aug 8 03:37:31 2006 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by jobi ]
I really don’t know about the TSD possibilities in gonocephalus and acathosaura species, I have not hatched enough to witness any indication leading to TSD.
However in my opinion the incubation of these species should never be at a constant temperature, the hatchlings on my photo where incubated in the 75f (24c) to 86f (30c) range and hatched at 76 days. I did not aim for a shorter incubation, but was only experimenting the possibilities. I have no intent to hatch them out like pop-corn, my goal is to maximise there inherited development potential. From my observations of captive lizards and natural habitat, I am now starting to see a pattern of there nesting biology. Until farther observation this must be considered deductive. So pleas be open minded and allow me room for error, nothing is set in stone and this may change eventually, at least to some degree. I believe these lizards will nest in locations where the sun will hit the grown at least part of the day (1-2-3h??) this allowing a significant raise in temperature 85f-95f easy, the nest slowly lowering temperature to the usual NTL 68f-77f (my case 75f) This short heat up is important for development, it works in many ways! First heat accelerate the metabolism of the embryo, this leads to absorption of the yolk witch in turns allows growth of the embryo. Next heat lowers the atmospheric pressure on the eggs, this also allows growth and movement of the embryo, furthermore the relief of atmospheric pressure allows the egg shell to grow, Last a lower pressure allows your eggs to hatch, imagine a baby lizard trying to force its way out when pressure from the outside is working against him, lowering this pressure allows the baby to push it’s way out with little force. Saving energy is vital. This is why in nature eggs hatch in the rainy season, when low pressure fronts. Now we as keepers can offer this option to our captives, and never again experience with week babies or fully developed dead embryo, in time I will show you a very simple way of doing this. Meanwhile I have much more to study and experiment. I hope this was clear for all
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