Reptile & Amphibian Forums

unfortunately I lost 4, the rest are doing good and growing.

Sorry to hear that. I am hopeing to get a male and 2 females sometime this summer. I've corresponded with 2 dealers that are trying to get them. One has both belli and grandis but I am waiting for the chamaleontinus.
From what I have gathered from your posts they like a temperature a bit warmer than the MHD. I have some brief information and am waiting for returned email about more extensive care. If they arrive before the info does I intend to keep them similar to MHD. Lots of climbing things. Tall cage. Moving water with a bowl large enough to get fully into. Humidity on the high side (70%). Feeding like MHD-insects and various worms.
I had a clutch of capras hatch between July 4 and 20. All 13 seem to be ok for now. They absolutly love small hornworms.

Here's a pic.

Or two

Only 4 dead out of 24 is ok, don’t be sorry.
I have a few bellie eggs incubating, I love these guys.

You may find this odd, but I don’t follow any particular or special care formula, sometime my cages are very dry and my gonos have stuck shed on them, anyone here would say my cages are way to dry, maybe they are right? Doesn’t bother me or my lizards.

my gonos are nesting at regular interval and my babies are doing fine, I use a simple water bowl without any kind of gimmick to stir the water, and they use it every day, this not only with my gonos but the capras, crucigeras, armatas.

My cages offer temps in the 75f to 120f other then a 25w incandescent bulb on a timer 12 out 24h I don’t use any heat device, you already know my views on UVs, I don’t use them.

I still don’t have a grip of food, I know part of the gono natural diet, but not enough.
For now I feed mostly crickets and meal worm, super worms supplemented with rep-cal, my insects are fed laying mash, dog food and carrots. I believe this to be an important mineral source for egg production and coloration.

On a few occasion I needed to re-hydrate some lizards, I did this by blending a few crickets with water and minerals, then used a syringe with an inch aquarium tubing.
Out of 56wc dragons I lost one to a tumour, one from a broken jaws, needed to amputate 3 (doing fine) the 51 remaining are all in top condition, 27 females nested, 19 are regular breeders.

love your capra!

24 eggs. Was that from one dragon? If I ever get that many I'll have to give up the hand feeding. That's the mother/grandmother in me. I know I don't have to do this but I'm still new (2nd clutch) and overly protective.
I've printed your last message and will use it as a guide.
I didn't realize you had so many lizards. My 5 capra, 2 armata and 13 babies seem like a dwarf colony. I do have a pair of cresteds that I hope will breed soon. Not yet 1 1/2 years old and the male is on the small side. They don't get the hands on attention that the MHD do. This suits them fine.

I took this photo for you yesterday, I amputated this guy several months ago, he is one of my favourite, lots of personality and doing all my normal gonos can do.
He is so dry that his stuck shed is crispy, I keep my babies the same way.
I do spray the cages once in a while.

Use your judgement and make good observations of your captives, see what works for you. As you know I leave it up to them, if they don’t feed and drink on there own they die, final.

I di dnot wanted to say anything in this forum.
But...do you really think is it recomemndable to keep rainforest dwellers that dry?
Do you want to keep healthy lizards or do you want to check what thy are able to tolerate?
Stuck skin is sth whic is easy to avoid and which should be avoided.
BTW, I do not think that that gono looks good...
I can´help, I still do not want to subscribe to your philosophy of herping and I think its dangerous to write that openly in such a forum about it.
I think you may cause alot of problems for newbies who read here and may follow your "advice" without being as experienced as you in reating properly upon upcoming problems.
You may do that on your own -and still accept my scepticism- but I would ask you to be careful with such advice in the forums.

Ci@o

Ingo

That you didn’t want to say anything on this forum is sad, a gifted and experienced herper like you should never worry about free expression.

I agree with you 100%
Its true I like to stretch the rubber band when it comes to reptiles husbandry, I am not advising anyone, but simply sharing information that can be helpful for those who understand the limits.

I already explained that all my present dragons are research subjects not pets, yes I need to know the extremes to better understand these lizards, I assure you they are in excellent condition, regardless of what you think they look like.

You think its dangerous for me to openly share what have made me successful for decades, why?