Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all,

As most of you know, hatching out eggs from different species of the Prasinus complex (green tree, blue tree, etc.) Has proven to be quite difficult. Many have gotten viable eggs, but not nearly as much successful hatchings have occurred. I thought that we could help solve this. I would like all people who have had successful egg laying from any of the species to post here, successful hatching and not. Every detail, from how many eggs were laid, incubator conditions, care of the adults, history of the adults (how long in captivity, WC or CB, diet, housing, etc.) Every detail counts and could possibly unlock the secret to hatching, or even just increase the amount of successful hatchings.

Thanks to all, happy holidays and happy brumation!

I think the key to succesful hatching of prasinus is just like any of the varanids and seems to be the achilles heel of many varanid keepers. Healthy well nested eggs! My prasinus eggs were incubated in the same "incubator" that has hatched more species of varanid than any other in the world. They died partial term. I believe this was due to poor nesting and soley due to poor nesting. But I will humor you.

They were 5 years LTC.
fed a base diet of mice with crickets and the occasional superworms.
Cage was 4'x4'x2'
Substrate was cocoa fiber and sand mix about a foot deep.
Typical Basking temps were 160 and up. Played with higher temps 190's-200 at one point but reduced those temps.
Cool end of cage high 70's to low 80's
I received 2 clutches of 2 eggs during the time I cared for them. Eggs were fertile but died partial term.

Thanks for your reply, and your guess might just be right, but I believe that there may be a husbandry link to the many problems. The main purpose of this was really to compare and contrast the many differences in people's projects.

Does anybody know the estimated count of different Prasinus in the wild? I doubt there is any such thing beings their shy and arboreal nature, but just thought I'd ask. And also any information on egg laying in the wild, if there is any such information.

I have not seen anything on nesting habits of wild prasinus.

First off, the first clutch was laid on your days off, so the exact time is not known. Then the eggs were set up in a substrate, I had not used, and the eggs were kept at the pet shop, in the monitor cage and elsewhere for several days. I then took them here and attempted to incubate them.

The problem was, there was very little substrate and the box dried out several times during incubation. I did have to add water several times, which in my experience is not a good thing. In my experience with most varanid eggs, each time they cave in due to being to dry, you can subtract 20% from the chance of hatching.

Also those eggs were laid on the ground, not in, which indicates poor nesting. Subtract another percentage here.

The second clutch was laid after you no longer worked there and was laid under the lite, only a couple of inches deep, and bugs had already chewed a hole in one of the two eggs. Again the egg was set up in coco sand, and again dried out a couple times.

The second clutch did not stay as long at the shop, but we have no idea how long they were in the cage. Again all eggs were moved by car over 20 miles.

While the above does not mean automatic failure, it does mean, they did not get off to a good start.

Again in my expeience, varanid eggs need to get off to a good start.

To me, the above are the details that are very important with varanid eggs. Get them nested quickly, get them in a consistant enviornment( a good hatching material and good temps) Set them up so they do not need to be maintained. Do not change things and do not change substrate, etc etc.

As you know, at the time I did explain that because of all of the above problems, the chances of hatching were slim.

In my opinion, if the above occurred with a couple of ackie clutches, say two clutches of 10, we would have hatched a percentage. But thats not the numbers we were working with, we had a total of three eggs with a very poor start. The numbers were not there. And yes, my mistake was not moving the eggs into my egg boxes that ARE KNOWN to work for me.

The second clutch of eggs was laid within days, maybe a week after I left. So I was not incorrect in saying I got TWO clutches of eggs from them.

I didn't miss crap! I said HEALTHY WELL NESTED EGGS. exactly what you said. Just without all the fluff. You said varanid egss need a good start....and what's a good start, healthy, well nested eggs...

Nate, you missed saying that the eggs went thru between being laid and put in my incubator room. Thats it, no more.

I feel that is a very important part of varanid egg failure. And that is the part you left out. All the other stuff is meaningless, if the eggs were weakened, between being laid and put in their final incubation.

I think, changing egg incubation, anytime after they are set, is a bad idea. But thats my experience. Cheers

I guess I didn't consider that relevant because they were poorly nested eggs to begin with. If they were well nested then I might think more of an issue of it.

Saw her yesterday, looks like she's cycling...

Congrats on the eggs, I got eggs from V. Kordensis but they were bad right from the start so I never had the oppertunity to hatch them. I do know that after eggs incubating for at least 1 month and then going bad I would be more inclined to red flag to much water. Ive hatched both species of Rock monitors, SV's and heloderma exasperatums . I have found all of different species that I have hatched to be about the same. The main killer of any good eggs is normally to much water. Pay close attention to the shape of the egg when it is laid and normally the eggs will get more of a bloated rounded look through incubation which to me is a visual indicator of water content in the egg. If the eggs begin to look like this there is an acceptable level and then you cross a fine line that they get overly plump looking and a bit more rounded and then to much hydrostatic pressure in the egg actually kills the embryo. To combat this problem you can wipe any excess condensation from the lid and walls of the egg box once a day until you can see a suttle change. You can also take a few wood pellets [animal bedding or fire pellets] and place a few of them in a small dixie cup or use 2 cups one on each end of your egg box if its a large one. Within the first day you will see the wood pellets expanding, they are now removeing excess water/moisture from the air and substrate in the egg box. You can keep the container in the box and replace the pellets if needed, this is a slow gradule method of removing to much moisture and I have created and have tried it many times already, it works great and if you can find any wood pellets you can also use floral ice or cricket crystals in their dry form. I have a German friend [Manfred Reisinger] who has hatched Green trees and I believe they were incubated at 85-86F in perlite. Manfred has also been the first person to hatch V. Reisingeri [ the relatively newly discovered varanid that carries his name] with the same technique. Good luck with the eggs.
Bob

They are supposed to work for any species. But with them I don't think there's really a way to regulate how much water the eggs are getting, since they absorb everything from evaporation, and the water vapor is always available with those containers.