Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Last night my girl had ten eggs but only three were good, the others were empty. This is really surprising because she just has eleven eggs on August 2. I didn't think this could happen. Has this ever happened to anyone? Could it be that these were her first two groups of eggs?

Mine lay about three clutches a year starting in the spring some times the clutches are no more then one month apart.

Hmmm,

Our CWD is gravid with her second clutch. We have noticed that her crown is getting scarred from the male biting her there during mating. The male jumps her, bites her crown to hold her, slides his body next to her (while still biting and holding her crown), and then twists around underneath so they look like 2 towels being wrung out (all twisted together). Anyway, all this biting and twisting seems to be scarring her. Have you noticed this with yours? I am assuming that in the wild it is common to see females with scarred crowns - do you know if this is the case? Finally, everyone seems to dig up the eggs and incubate them. Is this necessary? If so, I cannot see how the dragons would reproduce in the wild.

Thanks for any responses.

fafnir

Yes there is some scarring on the females, but overall its not too bad. I don't know that there is anything you can do about it, if your going to breed them. In the wild, heat within the earth is distributed and constant and the females can locate a spot where the moisture is correct and likewise constant. In a terrarium this is rarely the case, since mother nature is no longer controlling the environment its up to you to make sure that the moisture and temperature are correct and the best way to judge that is to see the eggs. My last two clutches had a 100% hatch rate. I beleive that I learned the best way to incubate them, thanks to everyones help on this forum. If you follow these rules and the eggs are fertile you will do well.

1. Use a submersible water heater type incubator, Hovabators and other dry element incubators may work well for colubrids but not for waterdragons.
2. Use a 10/3 ratio of vermiculite and water by volume
3. Put the vermiculite and eggs in a tupperware container within the incubator, this will further insulate the eggs from temperature changes. Perk just one edge of the tupperware top to form a slanted drip guard.
4. Make sure that the eggs are buried at least 75%
5. incubate at 83-86, hatching will occur in 56-61 days.
6. Use gloves when you extract the eggs, avoid turning them and touching them in general. Do not assist the young in hatching. They may spend twelve hours or more in the egg after initially opening it.

Thanks Rick!