Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've been sort of "lurking" for the past few days, reading up on all your experiences with MHDs. My boyfriend and I brought our MHD, Pandora, home about 2 weeks ago and she's a sweetheart. She's doing great, except for one thing. She's been eating regularly (and been a little piggie too!) every day to every other day, but for the past few days she hasn't been interested at all in eating. We feed her in a separate enclosure, and she just lets the crickets roam over the cage without even the littlest bit of interest. She's nice and plump, but it looks like she's getting lumpy. How can I tell if she is gravid? Are jumpiness and not eating some of the signs? Thanks for all your help.

Kali

My Erowen gets like that when she is about to and in Shed, has her color gotten a bit lighter?, and duller?
I have since learned (and I am NOT the expert here) that they shed in parts, legs and or tail, then head, then body (not always in that order maybe)
Some dragons do not want to be touched when in shed
how do you do the seperate enclosure?
I have made a pampered Pet area, with living dirt, and plants, and even some fish in her waterfall pool
and a sunken food dish, that keep a bit of dirt in, and her Nightcrawlers, or red wrigglers
if I give her meal worms I use a different dish, but when i give her crickets, I cut their hind legs, and take most of the worm dirt out and put them in her feed dish (if I let them go free, they chew on her, and it hurts, I can see her JUMP when one settles down on her, but not when they just crawl onher or jump on her, they have mouth parts for cutting through TOUGH plant material, so her delicate hide is no match)
please post lots
I love to hear the neat day to day stuff, and we can use more traffic here, I try, but I M not enough
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Elizabeth (ecb)

Make this world a better and more beautiful place that You have been in it
*Edward W Bok*

Thanks Elizabeth for the kind welcome

Pandora has a smaller, but still roomy separate enclosure to feed in. We "floored" it with Repti-Bark and some plants. I was just concerned because since the day we got her, those crickets were gone within seconds when they hit her enclosure. She's FAST... a really cute little huntress! (I almost named her Piglet, but I didn't think that was really dignified. LOL.) I'm really attached to her already. I'll watch for her to start her shed. Hopefully soon it'll start and she can go back to being her old self.

Kali

You have been given good information about shedding and feeding. However I am a bit concerned that if she looks lumpy you may need to prepare for nesting. It isn't to tough to palpate MHDs. Once you palpate a gravid one you will never have any doubts in the future

Just stoke her belly firmly enough to feel for lumps but gently so as not to make her uncomfortable. In a non gravid female you may feel a couple of small lumps that feel somewhat like eggs but in a gravid female it will feel like her belly is filled with definite lumps and many of them. Depending on how close she is to her due date they can feel like large peas or beans or like small grapes. They will be firm lumps and they will be the only thing you feel.

If this is the case, if the lumps are visible just looking at her she would be close to laying at which time she will lose her appetite, spend long periods of time soaking in the water and eventually digging. Of course this behavior can vary from one individual to the next but this is the most common behavior. I have had females that would eat nightcrawlers in the morning and lay their eggs that afternoon in the first hole they dig. Most though will spend a lot of time in preparation, digging multiple holes looking for the best nesting site, and soaking.

If she is just pre-shed then you don't need to be concerned, but if she is gravid it is best to be prepared. For detailed info on this read the breeding sections of my caresheet.

And lastly, Welcome!

Marcia
www.froggieb.com/MHDCaresheet.html