The only time I offer some damp sand is when they are
about to nest and it's usually in a nest box. Dry play sand
is best. I do keep a shallow bowl of water in their cage
throughout most of the year just not while in brumation.

John

Laudakia stellio brachydactyla

(Clown Agama) Care Sheet

By John P. Castellanos
2004





Introduction:

I’ve been working with the L. s. brachydactyla for the last three years. I find them to be quite personable and seem to make great pets with little handling. They vary from a black ground coloration with some nice contrasting orange/gold bands to a light tan ground coloration also with the orange/gold banding. They hatch at close to a gram in weight and approximately 1.5” in total length. Adults can be up to 12” in total length and average between 175 to 200 grams in weight. Distribution of these clown agama occurs in N Saudi Arabia, S Israel, and the Sinai Desert



Care:

At just a couple of days old, the hatchlings will begin to eat pin head crickets and small meal worms. By a couple of weeks of age, they’ll begin to eat a mixed salad which consist of ground turkey (browned in the microwave for a minute or less), to-fu, greens, veggies, boiled eggs and supplements mixed in). As they grow they will quickly adapt to dry treats as well. I grind up tortoise food, split peas, lentils, and sprinkle in some miner-all with vit D-3. They also drink standing water and on hot days are often seen soaking in a shallow dish of fresh water. As they grow in size and age, I reduce the insect intake to every two or three days. At three to six months of age, I increase the meal worm size from small to medium but still only feed these every two to three days. Medium size crickets are offered every week or so but mainly as a treat. The ground turkey salad is fed daily along with the dry treats and water is offered throughout the day. My adults eat the same for the exception of super worms every few days instead of the meal worms which I offer the youngsters.



They require a fresh UVB light source for good calcium absorption. A good cage gradient is from 80F (cool end) to around 100-110F basking site for hatchlings and around 85-90F (cool end) to around 110-120F basking site for yearling to adult size. They do well on play sand within a couple of weeks of age. Most of mine are in outdoor caging and are simply thriving out there during the spring/summer months.



Reproduction:

This is the second season in which I’ve successfully produced some captive bred/hatched clown agama offspring. After a couple of months of brumation during winter, I usually observed serious courting during early spring. The females would bounce back soon after deposition and would soon breed once again. Gestation period averages between 5 and 6 weeks. Females can produce as many as five clutches per season. The average clutch size for these clown females is from 10 to 14 eggs. These eggs average from 3 to 5 grams in weight. Incubation is pretty basic. My incubators are mostly home made and heated by thermostatically controlled heat tape. Incubation temps are set at around 84-86F range. I’ve found that Temperature Dependant Sex Determination (TDSD) occurs with various agama sub species including the clown agama. I use a distilled water/vermiculite egg tray medium mixed in a 1:1 to 1:2 ratio (by gram weight) which seems to work very well. Depending on the incubation heat, eggs may hatch as early as 50 days to as long as 60 days at these temps.

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