Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Heard a big ruckus in the Rhino enclosure. Took a look and found the male with a baby in it's mouth. Well obviously, this female produced (and hid them well) eggs (her first) and managed to bury them so well, I never noticed.
The baby is stable with slight bloodshed but I think will be ok.

The craziest thing is that the ground got saturated and the whole place was under a foot or so of water last month due to the tropical storms so just shows you that rhinos eggs are tough cookies apparently equipped with scuba gear (we don't have that much dirt here). And the ground layer of dirt is crusty tough as you can see.
The other thing is the temps hit a chilly 51 degrees F last few mornings.

Here are some pics, I covered the hole with a mesh cage, there may be more babies in there and I figured since this one hatched and dug itself out, I'll let the rest do the same.
The Rhinos are housed indoors during the cold winter but they are now proven to reproduce outdoors 100% naturally with no human interference other than to feed them.

The baby is in shed. There are no other signs of bodies but I don't think babies would have lasted very long with the male.
baby:

hatch hole:

Female:

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WWW.LIZARDRC.COM

I have never heard of a cyclura hatching naturally in the states, I would think they would be able to do it in the southern states but never heard of it. Where are you located? Also, it sounds stupid but the adult you have a pic of looks like one of my babies, female I assume. What's the history on it, I know a lot of mine are out there. Thanks. KB

Hey Kevin, you are correct, She is from you. I was hoping you would respond.
You may recall this baby pic below.
Is your email still the same? I'll send you an email.
I'm still shocked as she did a masterful job concealing both her gravid-ness and her nest! Last month, the whole place was under water and I had to mud wrestle rhinos out of there at that time. So the eggs were under water for about 2 days. Ground temps are still good I suppose.
I saw the baby and thought it was a spiny lizard or something, couldn't believe it. 100% Texas born Rhino baby.
Thanks for the good strong genetics!

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WWW.LIZARDRC.COM

Wow thats awesome! and beautifull rhinos too! =)

What a crazy story! Keep us posted, i can't wait to find out how many more are gonna show up.

That is crazy the baby survived. Poor little guy; all that he went thru while in the egg, then after the ordeal of digging out of that hard packed dirt he is greeted by the crushing jaws of his father. Glad you were able to save the little miracle hatchling!
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Bri

That is amazing -- especially that the baby survived after being in the jaws of an adult. If that had ever happened to me, it would have been dead meat pretty quickly.
Lucky for you. A proactive approach towards the rest of the clutch might bring you more luck -- excavate ! It it will take some time to carefully remove the soil, but you have a hole to follow that should lead to a chamber of eggs. It will be cool to find the egg shells. Learn how many were laid, how many hatched?, and maybe revive a sibling that may not be capable of enduring another night of 51 degrees.