I didn't respond to the previous posts not because I agreed with you, but because I didn't think some of it was relevant and didn't want to go off on yet another tangent, given that you don't keep lace monitors and haven't seen them in the wild. You were guessing.



For example:



Gatorhunter"Regardless whether it is a termite mound, rotting log, or whatever that if a female finds the conditions with stable temps/humidty/ and proper medium that she will lay there."



The thing is, they don't lay in rotting logs or 'whatever' in the areas from which our lace monitors come because the eggs would not survive the winter if they did so. Those areas do not have stable temperature and humidity. Consequently, I disagree with you there. They clearly don't just 'happen upon' termite mounds while digging around looking for suitable temperature and humidity - the behaviour is widespread enough to suggest they seek the mounds out instinctively. They'd probably nest elsewhere if forced to by the absence of termite mounds, but the chances of the eggs surviving would be slim in most of their range.



Gatorhunter"In captivity we should be focusing more on the conditions then whether it is in a nest box, termite mound, dirt on the cage floor etc. Nest boxes have to be more accurate and whole cage offers more choices and you both would agree. "



Again, I don't agree. I think that a nest box plus whole cage substrate offers more choices than just substrate. That's been the point of this whole series of threads. There appears to be a link between lack of a nest box option and females dying of reproductive failure.



Interestingly, after the discussion about Hans-Georg Horn using nest boxes I went back and re-read his paper about the very first breeding of lace monitors outside of Australia. I have spoken to Hans-Georg about lace monitors and nest boxes before, particularly while standing in front of his lace monitor enclosures many years ago, a few years after I had started breeding them myself. However, I had forgotten the details of the paper. It turns out that Hans-Georg had provided the female with a large amount of substrate, but when he saw her constantly digging and not laying he put in a nest box, placed under a lamp for heat. She dug into it within three hours and started laying.

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