Posted by:
jobi
at Sun May 7 23:18:36 2006 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by jobi ]
Marcia I am very pleased that we can exchange, really this is the only reason I come hear.
I am new to these dragons and no dough I will make many mistakes, but also many discoveries. I am and will learn from you as you will from me, unfortunately I am the worlds worst teacher, This means more work for you. Sorry!!
Thru the years iv killed many eggs to understand there development, I see them much differently then most peoples. The embryo is an engine, the yolk is fuel, run the engine fast and it will burn fuel fast, This is what high temps do!
The reason embryo don’t mature at higher temps is simple, you see all organism (even your kids) grow in the resting period, to us this is when we sleep, the organism feeds on the foods we took while awake, the same principal applies to embryo’s, they feed when temps are high, if theirs no NTL there organism will not feed when in the rest period, this means they will continually burn fuel and waste away.
It will take me some time to fine tune the incubation of my dragons.
For starts I use your lower temps, but I raise my temps 3-5 degrees day time.
Eventually I want my eggs to incubate at 74f NTL to 84f DTH once I get there I will add or subtract depending on results, this is how I would have started, but you seemed convinced about your temperature range, so I was cautious.
I started keeping the adults with your temperature range, then progressed to gradient of 65f to 130f all my dragons use these temps, so that’s it for temp gradient.
I am presently working with hydration to see how they use it, and how can I better provide them with water.
Feeding; I started with a few foods to see witch would benefit them most, I discarded all worms and kept crickets and roaches, these will be my staple diet because it’s a proven diet that will support reproductive females.
Nesting; usually is the last thing to work on, but sins I started with mostly gravid dragons I needed nesting options first. Simply said these dragons are the easiest lizards iv ever nested, they will nest in anything that feels right.
Parasites; forget about them! It’s a waste of time and animals, I don’t bother about them and they don’t bother me. Kept in good conditions lizards can flush parasites faster then any drugs. No one proved me wrong on this yet, I am still waiting!!
A little story just for the fun of it, my old friend is teaching at a veterinarian school and invites me over once in a while, I think he’s plying with me and his students?
Any way the kids started a discussion about the treatment of parasites in reptiles, they all had there own opinion on drugs and dosage, of course the best students gave the lowest dosage and safest drugs like (metronidasole, droncit, panacure, fenbendasole) and they specified to witch parasites they applied and used. Then one asked me a specific question, how would you treat a lizard hosting intestinal round worms in the least amount of time, my answer was way to simple and fast for any of them to understand, a stomach flush. No drugs no side effects no money$ to simple, discarded.
Ok they said, without the stomach flush? My second answer shocked them and one said why are we studying if its this simple? 5 days without food or water makes the worms exit the host by the mouth, you simply need to take them with tweezers and re hydrate and feed your lizard, of course he will be on the edge, but no worst then on drugs and the benefits outweigh the risk. (Don’t Try This at Home) you need experience to do this.
rgds
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RE: Green Tree Dragon. - jobi, Sun May 7 23:18:36 2006