Reptile & Amphibian Forums

how is Rusty doing? How many eggs? I didn't see your q about how long it takes for the whole process but I guess you know now that it can take a few hours or it can take all day! Depends on the dragon!

Marcia

Well she fell asleep on her nest last night so I left her alone til today. Well when I went to go check on her she left the nest completely uncovered with only 4 eggs dropped in there. So I see her on the branch and she doesn't look like she layed any! I can see she has like 1 or 2 less lumps than before...but still looks like a very gravid female. I am worried that either her not dropping the rest of the eggs means that there is a problem or that the eggs are infertile I pulled the 4 eggs out and they are in the incubator now, and I am hoping she decides to drop the rest today. She did eat a nightcrawler today which makes me think that she just needs some more energy to let the rest out. Hopefully this is the case. Anyways, I added a few pics on my kingsnake account so you could take a look and so that ECB and ZRHO could take a look at what the dragons look like right before they lay and how the skin just sucks in around the eggs. Here ya go...cat=500&thumb=1&stype=2&si=Joe

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Joe
joebradbury@attbi.com
aim and yahoo messenger - UTDstud18

THAT is a lumpy belly
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Elizabeth (ecb)

Make this world a better and more beautiful place that You have been in it
*Edward W Bok*

yes it is, and that is after 4 of the eggs already popped out of her. She was even bigger before! Hopefully she lays the rest today I keep checkin on her but she is still perched on that one branch.
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Joe
joebradbury@attbi.com
aim and yahoo messenger - UTDstud18

I'm left with the impression that you have had successful breeding/hatching in the past ... I'm assuming you haven't seen this behavior before? Was she digging any other sites prior to depositing the 4 eggs? For both your sakes, I hope she decides to give it another try - real soon. Best of luck.

Given that shot of Rusty, Daisy has a ways to go - if she is in fact carrying eggs.
Checked your gallery as well, beautiful male btw.

Thanks...the armata's are a much prettier species but also a little more aggressive than the capras...definitely not one to keep if you like handling the reptiles (they are also still pretty rare here in the states). I haven't had any successful breeding yet, an this is my frist clutch of eggs. I am going mostly of the information I have gotten from Marcia and Cheyanne on how the females typically lay and I don't seem to recall this ever happening.

I just checked on her again and she seems to be just fine, moving around now and not on that one branch but still very lumpy. She did dig another hole but didn't deposit any eggs there, I checked it out. I'm worried about her and I hope she realizes she still has some eggs left to drop and does it soon. She just looked so exhausted all day yesterday that I don't htink she had enough energy to drop them all.
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Joe
joebradbury@attbi.com
aim and yahoo messenger - UTDstud18

actually now that I look at the Pic of Erowen in my Daughters little hand (in the post after Joe's last one I promise), I can see some bulging at her sides
And someone else ook at her hips and tail, and tell me if that is not what Marcia describes in her Sexing Page (I M wiling to be wrong) I will add the back shot of her (she looks really dry, almost like an iguana in this pic)
I changed the night light to the more warm redbulb to increase the temp in her tank, to make her more comfortable


Her backside

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Elizabeth (ecb)

Make this world a better and more beautiful place that You have been in it
*Edward W Bok*

She definitely looks like a female to me, in all the pictures I have seen of Erowen I haven't noticed a single one that made me think she was a male. As for the other picture...I answered below that one
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Joe
joebradbury@attbi.com
aim and yahoo messenger - UTDstud18

another shot of rusty

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Joe
joebradbury@attbi.com
aim and yahoo messenger - UTDstud18

and a shot of the eggs in the hole she dug

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Joe
joebradbury@attbi.com
aim and yahoo messenger - UTDstud18

pics of the eggs in the incubator

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Joe
joebradbury@attbi.com
aim and yahoo messenger - UTDstud18

pics

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Joe
joebradbury@attbi.com
aim and yahoo messenger - UTDstud18

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Joe
joebradbury@attbi.com
aim and yahoo messenger - UTDstud18

I want to see LOTS of pictures
of babies piping, and running, and SLURPING down their first red wrigglers

But I know what U mean (and here is a good pic of erowen so u can see HER belly when she is Horazontal instead of vertical)
Thank you

ecb

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Elizabeth (ecb)

Make this world a better and more beautiful place that You have been in it
*Edward W Bok*

I'm sure I'll add more pictures soon, but not anymore today unless she happens to drop the rest of them(which I am hoping for). LOL...as for Erowen, she looks pretty good but still hard to tell if she is gravid. I wasn't sure with Rusty until a little while ago when the lumps just kinda popped out of nowhere. I knew she was getting bigger so I was keeping my eye out for it and then one day I looked and saw 2 lumps on each side of her. Then the skin just started to suck in around the eggs and they became more defined until she looked like that picture with a few extra lumps. Good luck with Erowen if in fact she is gravid!
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Joe
joebradbury@attbi.com
aim and yahoo messenger - UTDstud18

Joe, don't let her go too long without laying the eggs. Have you candled the 4 yet? Pretty easy to do with a good pen-light flashlight. Shine the light through the egg as it sits and if it glows pink it is probably fertile. If it glows yellow it probably isn't but keep it anyway cuz sometimes they fool you!

Anyway, my concern is that she may be egg bound. If this is the case it could be that there is an egg lodged sideways so that she can't lay it. I wouldn't think it to be any other type of obstruction or she wouldn't have passed the 4. If she starts laying on the floor not digging or trying to lay She could be in grave danger. If you have a good vet it is sometimes possible to massage the egg into the propper position so that she can finish and if not they can aspirate them to empty the contents. If she doesn't lay them soon though there is the possibility of losing her.

If the eggs aren't fertile she may not be so interested in laying them in a nest. I don't know how but they do seem to know. I have had two different females lay the eggs everywhere instead of in a nest and one of them did lay some in the nest but never covered it and layed the eggs out of the nest as well. That's partly why I am advising you candle. If they don't look fertile then she may just not be concerned. Either way though she can't go too long without it becomming a real problem.

Good luck,
Marcia

I candled them and all appear to be a pinkish color when candled so its good that they look to be fertile. However that means that there probably is a problem with her and I need to go figure it out. I have class here in a bout 45 mins so I am hoping she decides to lay the rest while I am gone...if not it looks like a trip to the vet first thing in the morning. I'll keep you all posted.

Joe
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Joe
joebradbury@attbi.com
aim and yahoo messenger - UTDstud18