Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ana started digging in her dry sand and burrowing under the food bowl, so I put her in her laying setup today. 5 hours later - she's done!! Am worried about those mites now so besides a new setup for eggs (of course) I think I may buy a whole new bag of vermiculite. Haven;t dug up the eggs yet, but looking thru bottom of tank there are at least 4

Egg #2 has gotten rather dark so am not sure what the heck it is going to do - just hope it is soon!
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info
1.0 Nosy Be Panther Chameleon - Cyrus
0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
1.1 Side-blotched lizards - Ana and Stan for now
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skippy
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh, Died 4/21/06
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha, donated to science 4/4/06
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

I know everyone recommends vermiculite, but what about clean, fine play sand? I am sure the heat tends to dry it out, but what if lightly misted daily (or as needed)? I am a little freaked about the mites (I had a major grain mite outbreak in superworm container once - had me itching for months!) and would think the sand would be less apt to support the mites (where the heck do those things come from any way?).

Opinions, experience welcome...
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info
1.0 Nosy Be Panther Chameleon - Cyrus
0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
1.1 Side-blotched lizards - Ana and Stan for now
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skippy
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh, Died 4/21/06
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha, donated to science 4/4/06
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

Things you can try...go online and see if you can find some mite paper. when I was in college growing fruit flies, we had some special mite paper that we kept all of our cultivation bottles on.

Or...try getting a flea/tick collar and resting your dish on top of the collar. For existing mites, just cut a small piece off and put it in a milk like or something. I would not want it laying on the substrate. Leave the lid off of the cage while you do this.

You probably could spary a piece of paper towel with Deep woods off and keep sitting your cage on that. It would of course have to be applied every day or so at least once.

I don't know, just shooting off idea.

J

I've seen that mite paper advertised, but I would tend to agree with Esther on this one about having the chemicals in there. I don't use much in the way of chemicals of any sort and try to steer clear of them except in extreme cases.

btw, this egg is looking pretty bad, I do not think it will make it. It is turning very dark and crinkly
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info
1.0 Nosy Be Panther Chameleon - Cyrus
0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
1.1 Side-blotched lizards - Ana and Stan for now
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skippy
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh, Died 4/21/06
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha, donated to science 4/4/06
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

I think sand would be a disaster because it would suck the moisture out of the eggs. Sand doesn't hold moisture well, that's why you don't see people planting stuff in pure sand.

I guess some clean new vermiculite would be best.

I wouldn't want to put any chemicals near developing embryos. Maybe you would just have to gently change the eggs, without any shaking at ALL, to a clean container of vermiculite.

What is your laying setup that you put Ana in to lay her eggs?

I just thought if it stayed moist enough (container is covered to retain heat and moisture) but you are right, it does not retain moisture well, thus the reason it is good to add for drainage to plants

I put her in a 2.5 gal tank, filled with moist, packed sand. I make a hill on one side with a piece of cork bark over it and that is where she laid her first clutch. I have a rock at other end for basking. The 2nd time I set it up I used an overturned clay pot tray for basking and she ended up digging under there and laying. Made it a LOT easier b/c the sand was only a couple inches deep. So now that is how I do it. This time the tray was in Darwin's setup so I just built her a cave and sure enough, that is where she laid. I'll take pics before I dig up the eggs.

I'll stick with the vermiculite for the eggs.

thanks!
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info
1.0 Nosy Be Panther Chameleon - Cyrus
0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
1.1 Side-blotched lizards - Ana and Stan for now
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skippy
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh, Died 4/21/06
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha, donated to science 4/4/06
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

Thanks for your laying setup/ I'll put a clay pot in my Texas banded gex cage, several females are gravid & I never find their eggs, which then dry up and never hatch.