Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What could cause the eggs to be very squishy? I have ten that were laid that seem a lot more soft and squishy than last year. They look good color wise but are very soft. Like to the point where when you pick them up to move them they dent. Any ideas on what could cause this? Could they just be not fertile? Lack of or to much calcium from my female? -Travis

Do they have any pink in them?? If so they are fertile if not most likely they aren't fertile.

Have you been dusting her meals with calcium powder??

Also, how many successive clutches have you had from her?? I had read in a past Reptile magazine of where a persons lizard had 20 clutches over 5 years and the latest clutch of eggs were like yours. The "expert" suggested of giving her a year off of egg production.

Well she layed a single clutch in 05. I didnt breed her in 06 and she layed a single clutch in 07. Those eggs were all good. As far as the pink goes. It appears to be there as normal. I have a lot of lizard eggs right now and these look pretty good other than the fact that the are very soft and almost lack a shell. My other female layed yesterday and I got the same result. Those have not collapsed fully yet but it appears they are on their way. She was with the same male in the same aquarium so surely there is somrthing in the diet or something that I did to cause this...right? The only thing I can think of is I quit dusting thier crickets every time as I had a chuckwalla almost die from calcium built up inside him. (he was like that when I recieved him), so we cut back onb the calcium. Any ideas on if that could effect the eggs or not?

ALL SQUISHY ? Usually just means infertiles! When they fail to plump up and stay all squishy, they are not fertile.
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PHEve / Eve

Travis... You definitely got infertile eggs from what you have described so the eggs can be discarded. Did you actually see your male and female mate for this clutch? Also, did you brumate them before this mating/breeding season? If you didn't that is probably causing the infertile eggs - if they aren't brumated you won't always get fertile eggs, its kind of a hit or miss thing if you don't do it, sometimes you'll get good eggs and other times you won't. Also if you are keeping your Collareds indoors you should still dust their food at least 2 times a week with a calcium supplement w/D3, and also a muti-vitamin mineral supplement once weekly. When your females are pregnant and carrying eggs you should also increase calcium/D3 to 3 or 4 times weekly because they will need the extra calcium for egg production and they should be fed daily during this time (or at least 6 times a week), so they get the proper nourishment for the eggs. Hope you have better luck on the next clutch.

Jeff

hey jeff you mentioned dusting with calcium supplement for egg production, and i was curious if this is why my female has not shown her gravid colors. I brumated her over the winter, and i have never used calcium dust before, until about 2 weeks ago. i used to just feed the insects a calcium mix and that was it. So yeah i brumated and she hasnt shown colors, does that mean she isnt gravid or she isnt getting enough calcium, or the brumation was unsuccessful? Also should I be using a multivitamin as well? I feed the insects fruit and vegitables, but is that enough?

Travis.... yes it is a good idea to dust their food with a calcium/D3 supplement for breeding females in my opinion 3 or 4 times weekly, along with a multivitamin supplement 1 time weekly for lizards kept indoors on a regular basis. If you keep your collared lizards outside in natural sunlight on a regular basis still use the calcium and multi-vitamin supplements, but in this case use the calcium supplement without D3. I don't keep mine outside on a regular basis so I always use the one with vitamin D3. I use the same approach with babies and juveniles and the subadults and adults not breeding I use the calcium supplement twice weekly and the multi-vitamin/mineral supplement 1 time weekly. Has your female always shown the orangish/reddish nuptual blush when she ovulates, after mating and while she is carrying her eggs? (That is in previous breeding seasons?) The reason I ask is sometimes there are females that will ovulate and be ready for mating without showing colors - I had one a long time ago like that, but that's not the norm of course. But not using the calcium supplement in itself isn't why your female isn't showing colors yet.... she just isn't ready for breeding/mating yet. You have to really be patient with them. Sometimes within days or a couple of weeks after they come out of brumation adult/mature females will begin ovulating and showing the colors indicating readiness for mating/breeding with the males - even at that time if she isn't ready yet she will reject the male's advances/attempts at mating.... when she's ready they will mate. Other times it may take couple of months before the female begins ovulating and showing colors. Still there may be breeding seasons after brumation has been completed and the females won't ovulate/breed in that particular year. You may only get 1 clutch in a season or possibly multiple clutches, or even none at all, and still there may even be times when your females will even reabsorb their eggs, thus never laying them. What temperature and how long did you brumate your Collareds this past winter and when did you wake them up and are they eating with good appetites and have they put back on any of the weight they may have lost during brumation, are they in good health, how old, mature, or immature are they? I also think the way you gutload your insects prior to feeding your lizards is good too, they seem to be getting a good variety of nutrition with fruits and veggies and the calcium mix (does the calcium mix have food in it that contains a variety of vitamins and minerals for additional nutritional value - I suspect it does but was just wondering because that's important too?). Sorry I got long-winded but I hope this answers a lot of your questions and gives you some good insight.

Jeff

Hey jeff, first off my names guy, no problem you didnt know that!! ( its in my screen name collareds-GUY, pretty creative i must say haha) any way to answer you many quetions first of im not sure if she has or has not had her coloring because ive only had her since last july, and she wasnt showing them then, even though some of the other females at the store were. I brumated them for one month and at about 50 dgrees, but at some points it got kinda warm in thier so they woke up. i only did 1 month because i missed them to much, but i found out that one month is ok. next year i plan on starting them earlier and ending at about the same time (christmas) They have had pretty good appetites my male was kinda picky for a while but i solved that problem. they are putting weight on very nicely. Im not sure how old they are, maybe a year or two, i bought them in a pet store and that information wasnt provided.They look like they are adults however. im going to post pics soon however my male is shedding and I wanna wait till hes done. get him when hes looking his best. I use the fluckers calcium mix, and it says it contains vitamin D3. so i guess im going to keep the food mix as well as the suppliment.Hwever is enough in terms of vitamin D3? well thanks alot for your help. in my very amature oppinion i dont think brumation was successful, so if you think its something else let me know.

Guy... Sorry I messed up on your name. It is possible that your brumation may not have been successful because of your temps not being steady for the entire time, and 4 weeks may be a little bit short, but like I said earlier sometimes they may wait a few months before they are ready to begin the breeding. Just be patient and see what happens over the next few months since there are still several months left in this year. There is another thing you might also consider if your Collared's are wild caught. Is they will already have their seasonal clock set in their bio-rythum which basically means they are geared towards the actual seasonal changes from where they are originally from. So you might want to brumate them in the wintertime with timing their wakeup in late March or early April. Some people brumate them up to 4 months, but I think that is a little long, but I choose somewhere in the middle about 6 to 8 weeks. If yours are wild caught they may take a year or so to adjust to the brumation cycle you want to have by waking them up at Christmastime during the winter.

As far as the D3 I don't know what the exact proportion should be, but it is an essential vitamin in order for reptiles to be able to absorb the Calcium they are eating in their diet. Natural sunshine will provide the needed amounts of D3 to reptiles for proper nutrition, but reptiles kept indoors cannot produce enough of it under artificial lighting so that's why the calcium supplement with D3 is necessary for dusting food items as I explained before. The Calcium supplement with D3 is in the right proportions with the calcium when you dust the food items at least 2 times weekly (breeding females and babies/juvies 3 or 4 times weekly). I use the Rep-Cal brand for the Calcium Supplement and the multi-vitamin supplement - It's what I have always used (other's will have their preferences for feeding their reptiles but it's what I have used and it works great). If your Collareds are kept outdoors in natural sunlight every day instead of keeping them indoors, you don't want to use the Calcium supplement with the D3 or you risk overdosing on D3 (just use the Calcium supplement without the D3). Hope this helps and answers your questions Guy.

Jeff

yeah that helps but sadly it doesnt matter if how much calciums shes getting ( other than its good for her) because my male ran away. not sure if you saw those posts, but yeah i had them outside sunnning, and i opened the reptarium to take them out and my male ran for it. hes in the heighborhood somewhere so yeah. thanks for the information i will keep it in mind, bevause i plan on getting another male so i will keep this in mind. thanks for the help, but sadly im not having any babies at all now.