Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This female laid the day after her shed and came out of the box eating and full of energy.

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Steve Perry
facebook.com/StevePerryReptiles

Nice Steve, I also used peat moss in a nest box which is more natural, but the only problem I have with it is the lack of visibility, which bothers me. I only use it now if a female that's ready to lay is stubborn with spaghnum....

That bothered me at first also, but so far the females are active on the surface within hours of laying. I have only used this on a couple of females though. One look at her tells you she's done and then you get to play archeologist while finding and uncovering the eggs.
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Steve Perry
facebook.com/StevePerryReptiles

Hi Steve, I only used it on one female that seemed to be going way too long without dropping her clutch in the nestbox with spaghnum. I don't know if it was the peat moss, or just offering another option for her, but she laid her eggs in it soon afterwards. I know that its easy to tell when she empty by looking, but after she laid, she stayed buried in it, so I couldn't easily tell if, or when, she was done laying. I worry about eggs possibly being eaten or crushed, and also, you want to get them out of there A.S.A.P., so from now on I'll add that box only if I need to. I did do the "egg hunt" you mentioned on that one....

congrats ..

Nice one Steve... Congrats.

Joe, The not being able to see might bother you but it is exactly the conditions the female requires. Along with heat and humidity, females also look for security when choosing a nest spot. Not sure why you would worry about females eating their eggs or worry about the female crushing them. The females know exactly what to do when laying eggs and eating them and crushing them is not a normal thing to have happen. If that does happen, then something is lacking in husbandry and nesting options.

Also, if the female is offered proper nesting, there is no reason to have to remove the eggs from the nest right away. Sometimes I am not able to get to the eggs for a couple of days once they have been laid due to me working crazy hours, sometimes. The construction business is boomin on the North East coast right now...

That is just my take on things.