Reptile & Amphibian Forums

jeff-
can you be so kind as to provide a little detail on your awesome green tree breeding?
rain cycling, nesting, etc?

No worries Chad - I actually had pics of everything on another monitor site, but recently took them down. I made my own cage specifically for green trees. It measures 7 feet tall x 4 x 3 deep and is a painted wood frame - the rest is lexan thermoclear plastic with a small vent on either side. The back is all corkboard, many hides, UV spotlamp, ground is a peat/sand mix. It has a heated external nest box of clear plastic covered by white plastic sheets (to keep it dark, these slide up to see through the glass to see where the eggs are). Nesting material is peat/sand/sphagnum. Box measures about 17 inches x 12 x 4. I spray the cage manually every day or two and usually eep the pair together. Sometimes I remove the male. Humidity is maintained by using a bubbler in a water dish. This is elevated along with the food dish. They eat turkey diet, bugs, and other goodies such as kingworms (they breed in the substrate and lizards dig for them) and chopped adult mice. By far the turkey diet is the most popular (babies started on this and only this - very finicky on everything else but they're coming around on bugs). The animals breed on and off every couple of months. The first 2 clutches (2-3 months apart) were infertile. The female also likes to eat eggs so I have to be on the ball. Incubation is on perlite, 1:1 by weight, no water added after initial mixing. Inc. temp is 86.5. Thats about it. YOu guys having any luck?

well, luck is a funny word. we are seeing cops and courting in all our groups. two groups have dig long tunnels in the lay boxes. we use a coir/sand mix in the lay box. at this eggs would be awesome, but hatchlings would be blow my mind! we have 8 females in groups, so i hope with that large a group i can start to "see" the clues and get some babies!
thanks for your help.

If ya'll don't mind my asking, how long have ya'll been working with your groups, on this project? Just curious about the general time frame. From acuisition to egg laying & then to hatchlings.

Thanks for sharing the info! I'm not ready for them yet but have alaways liked them and I'd might as well gather as much info as I can, when I can.

Have a good one!
Mike
(HH)
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

www.natures-signature.com

we've worked with green trees overall for about 10 years. we have gotten eggs a few times. the times we had good eggs, we screwed up the incubation!
about a year ago i started to pick up any small imported babies with the hopes of putting together a strong group. we got lucky in that most of the babies turned out to be females. so now we have a few good groups going, just need some eggs and babies now!

Keep it up. I wish ya'll all the best.

Perseverance & diligence generally pays off, so, hang in there!

Mike
(HH)
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

www.natures-signature.com

I've been at them for alittle over 2 years - female was a baby when I got her.

Sounds like you've stepped in something good along your varanid keeping path. Not everyone believes that there are "naturals" that more easily connect to their captives, but I do.

Keep up the good work, Jeff. And thanks for sharing the info with us. Most, if not all, really do appreciate it. Whether we say so or not.

Take care!
Mike
(HH)
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

www.natures-signature.com

[Not everyone believes that there are "naturals" that more easily connect to their captives, but I do.]

I wonder, do you have to be one, to know that? I would think so.

"Not everyone believes that there are "naturals" that more easily connect to their captives, but I do."

"I wonder, do you have to be one, to know that? I would think so"

I don't think so. I mean, there are "naturals" in everything. We have people that are natural basketball players, natural musicians, natural oratators, natural BSers (The latter two usually go hand-in-hand.Especially this time of the year every 4 years.)

I'm sure you've seen a person or two that could perform miracles with a horse that many others couldn't get near. I have. I've seen people that have never had the first art lesson draw or paint a picture of something that most cameras couldn't even reproduce.

So, I don't think that it's out of the question that some can more easily become one with their captives where so many others have to work hard at it. And I don't think one has to have it to know that it exists. Somtimes we may interpret it as something else or we may try to pin it on something else. Sometimes it's hard for us to accept things we don't understand.

An unnatural keeper can achieve the same things a natural keeper can. The main difference is usually the length of time it takes to get there and the bumps & bruises along the way.

I hope this answers your wuestion, Susan. Keep in mind, though, that this is just my personal view and not something I'm stating as a fact. If you've still got more questions about this start another thread and I'll join ya. I don't want to get this good thread off topic.

Take care!
Mike
(HH)
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

www.natures-signature.com

Jeff,

thanks for all of info you sent me via email a few weeks ago! i was actually on said "other" monitor forum and saw the post about your cages. i was disappointed to see that the photos were not there. is there any way you could repost them here? if not, you could send them to me and i could host them for you. i have my own server that i could throw them on - no charge of course! thanks!

matt

No worries Matt - its all about time. I'll try when I get some of that.

Chad
I know you and Robyn have been working on this species for a long time now.
Hang in there and good luck!
Tell the "ugly" one I said "whats up".

Mike
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Mike's Monitors!