Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have two who can't be more than a few months old. I notice that they are incredible jumpers. The seller says he gave me a male and a female, so they must be sexually dimorphic. Do you know how?

Do you have any husbandry tips for me? They are in a 40 gallon tank with a plywood top, with a Spyder Robotics thermostat set to keep the cool end at 85 F, and I have a 150 watt reflector flood at the other end. I suppose the newspaper there is about 140 F. The go to the warm zone and sit for a few minutes, with their toes daintly lifted up.

The spend most of their time between the warm and cool sides. They seem to be not at all afraid of me. I do not mess with them except to put 3/8 crickets in and change the water.

Roger

Hi,

welcome to the world of Timonlepidus
Yes, I do breed and keep these beauties and yes, they are dimorphic.
Adult males have about twice the weight of females and have mucgh broader heads. At the age of 8-12 months femoral pores start to become more clearly visible in males than in females.
For now your setup sounds fine.
For adults you should provide a groundspace of at least 5 x 3 ft.
Also they benefit from hide boxes. Best would be to provide tunnels (plastic tubes) which open underneath a small thorny bush and end after 1-3 ft in a shoebox sized hide box half filled with moderately moist sand. That very nicely imitates the rodent nests they prefer for hiding in the wild.

Ci@o

Ingo

http://community.webshots.com/photo/306247230/1311687473067556490nzcfTi

OK I'll plan for that, no prob. Do the adults eat anything fuzzy? I know I didn't do my homework in advance, but I'm a comitted herper in general, focusing mainly on the Ctenosauri. I jumped on these two. I'll do internet reading on Jeweled Lacertas, as much as is available.

Odd thing, the larger one creeps up to crickets, rears back his head, then strikes when the moment is right. Good hunting technique. The smaller one rushes up to the cricket, causing it to bounce away. Poor hunting technique. I'm concerned that this one needs me to feed a crowd of cricks at a time just so (s)he has a chance. I hope (s)he can learn how to hunt.

Have you had any luck with captive breeding? I assume the eggs would be laid in the shoebox you mentioned?

Roger

Hi,

the adults eat anything from peas to half grown mice. But take care not to overfeed them, they are voracious feeders!
Breeding is easy. Females produce 2-4 clutches of 8-20 eggs per season which hatch out after 60 to 80 days at 26-28° C conctantly.
Mine started early this year: Yesterday I found the first clutch. This female obviously hibernated gravid. I doubt that these eggs are all fertile.
Normally I find the first clutch early in April.
My females do lay their eggs either within the hideboxes or underneath flowerpots.
They guard the nesting site for some days and pile up substrate over the egg laying site which makes finding of the eggs easy.
Even though not full grown before their 3rd or 4th year, these lizards can (but try to avoid that) produce fertile eggs at the age of 12 or even 9 months.

Hope that helps

Ingo