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First Hatchling's Day 1-What to expect?

BlueMtnLizards Aug 25, 2003 06:35 PM

Well, I have 36 eggs that started hatching today. Yup 36! One girl laid 23 and one laid 13 within one day of each other. Question for breeders--1) how many do you house together? I have a 55 gallon, and two 10 gallon tanks setup so far. 2) What do you do the first 3 days? They seem to be resting and enjoying the heat of their new home. They are feisty and posing with mouth open every time I go near them. I guess I'm pretty scarey to them right now. I ordered tiny crickets overnight express today, and I have a grinder for salad. They're on paper towels with several hides. Do they need climbing branches already?

I've found lots of information about incubating, but nothing about their first days of life. They are absolutely adorable!! I want to keep all of them.

Replies (4)

reiko Aug 25, 2003 08:20 PM

not a breeder but maybe i can help a little bit...with babies you are going to want to mist them several times daily to keep them hydrated. For the first few days they may not eat, they are still absorbing the yolk they took in while still in the egg, so dont panic 36 eggs.. hrmm.. well you could partition that 55 gallon to help split up the babies, at least thats what i would do, as they grow you will need to split them into smaller groups and be aware of bullies too, youll need watch out for that, feeding them seperatly in a smaller enclosure a few at a time i ahve heard is good to prevent nips and as well that way you can be sure everyone is getting enough. You can start offering them salad right away, they may not eat it, but nows the time to start offering it in their diets. As for basking logs, yes, they do need them, babies need to climb, the hides arent needed at this age as some more timid babies will choose to hide instead of being out basking, but its all am atter of opinion, i would definatly get them some basking branches and double check all your temps 105-115 basking surface temp and 80-85 ambient cool side temps. make sure when you offer crickets if you do feed them in their homes that none are left over after feed time, you dont want them hiding out and then munching on your dragons after the lights go out, double check before bedtime to be sure all the crix are out.hope this helps some, hopefuly some breeders can give you some extra advice best of luck! hope to see some pics soon

>>Well, I have 36 eggs that started hatching today. Yup 36! One girl laid 23 and one laid 13 within one day of each other. Question for breeders--1) how many do you house together? I have a 55 gallon, and two 10 gallon tanks setup so far. 2) What do you do the first 3 days? They seem to be resting and enjoying the heat of their new home. They are feisty and posing with mouth open every time I go near them. I guess I'm pretty scarey to them right now. I ordered tiny crickets overnight express today, and I have a grinder for salad. They're on paper towels with several hides. Do they need climbing branches already?
>>
>>I've found lots of information about incubating, but nothing about their first days of life. They are absolutely adorable!! I want to keep all of them.
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reiko
photos

BlueMtnLizards Aug 26, 2003 03:12 AM

Thanks, I'm going to use one of the 10 gallon tanks to feed in. I like the idea of keeping the crickets out of the main tank. They're hard buggers to catch.

Christyj Aug 25, 2003 08:36 PM

Reiko pretty much covered it. I just wanted to add: Please remember to get all crix out of the enclosure at night.
I had two sleeping tanks for my babies so I would never have to worry about the crix eating holes in the babies. Putting the beardies in another tank everynight was much easier then hunting baby crickets. While the babies were in their sleeping tanks, it was a great time to clean the enclosures really well and get them ready for the next day.
My babies slept cuddled up in a washcloth ..lol (I know, I know).
I used several rocks and limbs for basking. You can get more beardies on a rock.
Image
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TheClassyLizard

BlueMtnLizards Aug 26, 2003 03:01 AM

Thanks for the tips. Of course, the camera battery is dead just when I want to get some pics. Will post some shortly. Yours are adorable.

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