Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My dragon's third clutch just started hatching today and I noticed something weird. The first(and only out so far) baby's tail has 1 or 2 "kinks" in it. I thought maybe it was because it formed that way in the egg and will turn out just fine after its given some room to stretch, but I'm still worried that this abnormality could be a result of MBD or some other deficiency. I'm kinda new to the whole breeding reptiles thing(this is my dragon's first year of breeding) so I'm worried that this little baby isn't perfectly healthy. Also, I heard that it is not unusual for most of the babies to die, but out of the 11 babies that hatched all of them lived! I must be doing something right. lol. Thanks for your help!

I think you were right the first time, it's tail was kinked in the egg. One of my beardies has a kinked tail and it's sibling (owned by someone else) has a totally curly tail. It actually is in a loop. Both were very healthy and still are 3 yrs later..
I'm not sure if anyone can explain why more then one would come out that way. I've never read anything about any deficiency causing it. Mine came from a very reputable breeder.
Lucky me, she was free because of the kink.
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TheClassyLizard

thanks! i knew i was freaking out over nothing!

Where did you hear it was normal for most of the babies to die???? Thats AWFUL!! Thats the kind of thing pet stores say to justify their cruelty. In all my years of breeding I have only lost three babies, and that was because of a cat. I have had to nurse a couple of sick babies, but just 2-3 out of hundreds. Thats totally wrong. Maybe in the wild only a few survuve, but with proper care I have a 99.5 percent hatch rate, and all but three of my babies have grown up normally.

Jen
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MY Dragons!!