Posted by:
shughey
at Tue Apr 13 18:09:53 2004 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by shughey ]
I was working with Grandis and Cruciger years back....I did not end up breeding them long term as I turned over to Basilisks....and some Chameleons.
Did you loose your youngs in the egg...or after they hatched. It took many years to get down a hatching routine that worked for many lizards...I guess I should say that Basilisks were on a large production basis....hundreds at a time. The most I ever had hacthed at any time was about 125...but always had a few hundred eggs going.
I used to loose batches in the egg...full term deaths..then we started to turn the temps down a few degrees 2 weeks before scheduled hatchings. We got this from another breeder and it seemed to help.
I never had problems with deaths after they hatched....probably about 99% to market rate once they hatched. Loosing eggs was always an issue...some were just not fertile....some were held too long by the females...others were attacked by fungus.
Keeping em too moist was also a problem....always was a balalncing act on not too dry and not too wet. tried sand..tried perlite..tried vermiculite...and on and on. All worked....vermiculite seemed the best..although clean sand was not bad.....perlite was a pain.
The last time i was hatching I used some of the compressed bedding and that worked well too. really is just a matter of finding which one works with your style. I know guys who used gravel...go figure.
I did end up using deeper amounts of hatching medium for both drainage and also as a larger buffer for drying out..again...not to wet and not too dry.
But after they hatched..never any issues.
I have hatched many many lizard species and also mass produced red Eyes for 2 years from 1995-1997...until everyone started breeding redeyes...and then I stopped.
As far as housing the groups together..again i don't have problems...never have. It is more of an issue of ample areas to abide without being on top of each other.
Basilisks were notorious fighters amongst males...but I could keep 3-4 males together with 10-13 fermales...but as along as there was space...hiding areas...and only one bull male. The other 3 males were always younger....usually really pretty as they did not breed as much....I usually just kept em in there until I was ready to move em into their own cages as bulls.
Now mix two bulls together and o man look out...I had two go at it when one somehow managed to get into anotehr cage...realise these were 9 foot by 12 foot screened walkins in a greenhouse....anyway..what a blood bath...me included. But we all survived.
Also if they are all put in at the same time before territory is established....they usually do fine. But allow a group to establish and then months down the road toss a male in and forget it. Just like freshwater fish...always fine when you dump 12 in together...but later drop in juts one and they all beat him to death.
I do keep an eye on everyone for stress...also it was not supposed to have the capras....they were ordered as the cruciger and the boneheads got it wrong and I had no other setup for them.
Everyone has ample space so there are no issues.....but can't toss anymore in there. But right now there is plenty of area for everyone to avoid the other...and even so I will still see three of em piled on each other sunning themselves in the morning and not caring.....and I am highly suspicious I have 1.3 cruciger anyway.
Scott
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RE: $200.00 for the animals.....spend $2000.00 for the cage - shughey, Tue Apr 13 18:09:53 2004