Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi All, I have a pair I'd like to try to breed next Spring. For those who have been successful breeding Nigers, I was wondering what kind of setup you have (pics would be awesome but detaileds discriptions are great too), What temps did you use for the Pair? And the eggs? How did you incubate them? What substrate did you use for the pair and for the eggs? What kind of Nesting box did you give the female with what kind of nesting substrate? I have an Idea of what I'm gonna do but I wanted to souble check EVERYTHING before I try to breed them. I'd love to have little Red Nigers running around here. I'm very serious about this and no, I don't plan on breeding heavily. I'd just like to get one CB clutch of Reds. I plan on having a very large enclousure for them (6' long, and a foot and a half tall and 19" deep)and only putting the male and female together for the breeding attempt (both have their own cages). Should I put Her in with Him or Him in with Her? Any and every detail you can give me would be great. Thanks a bunch guys!!!!
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2.0 Iguanas, 2.4 Beardies, 1.2 Saharan/Nigerian Uromastyx, 0.0.2 Leos, 0.0.1 African Fat Tail, 1.0 Columbian Rainbow Boa, 0.0.1 Fla Garter Snake, 0.1 eastern garter, 0.0.1 Banded California King Snake (M.I.A.), 0.0.1 Corn Snake, 0.0.3 Fire Belly Toads, 1.0 Eastern Painted Turtle, 0.0.1 African Sideneck, 2 Horses (soon to be three {Baby next May!!!}), 4 cats, 1 dog, and I'm still not done.....

I'm curious why you're just going to put them in together for the breeding attempt. These guys are very sociable lizards, especially for uromastyx. I just had a trio last year (now I have more) and mine were so close that the females actually laid their eggs in where they slept with the male. They had two caves they slept in. One female laid her eggs earlier in the day before they all went to sleep. The other female laid hers in the evening so the second female and the male were already asleep. I came out and found her laying her eggs ON TOP OF the other female and the male! I'd been told that when they were gravid I'd have to separate the two females but they got along fine. If you only have a pair, I don't know why you couldn't keep them together. I even have one cage with two males and two females together and so far (I've just had them a week) they are doing fine. They are not very territorial, as lizards go. They seem to enjoy each others' company.

Some people say you need to cool them down in the winter and some say you don't. I went by Doug Dix's advice since that's who I got mine from and he is one of the experts. I started cooling mine down right after Christmas and went through February. Nothing dramatic, just no heaters on them, but my house is still warm, and I did it gradually. I still gave them some greens but they didn't eat much. Then I warmed them back up gradually the same way. They start mating soon after that.

The tricky part with uros compared to many other lizards is incubating the eggs. I lost most of my eggs. First of all, I'd suggest filing the females' claws down a bit when you think she's ready to lay. I had one of my females puncture most of her eggs with her claws. Then you need to put them in moist substrate, I used vermiculite, cover them and LEAVE THEM ALONE. I put saran wrap over the top. My mistake early on was to treat them like bearded eggs, only think that they could probably get drier because they were from a drier climate. I was keeping the top off and misting them every day. I lost most of them that way. Then someone told me NOT to mist them and to cover them and leave them alone. After that I didn't lose any more.
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Lucy
www.smalldragons.com

I was gonna keep them seperate cause I was told that if they're tank mates, I would have less of a chance of them breeding... So I was gonna keep the girls together and the Boy seperate.

I have them in My Herp Room and it stays quite warm in there. 86 during the day (That the coolest it gets... with no lights) and no lower then 65-70 at night (I'd be surprized if it got that low...) Should I move them out of that room for the cool down time? Should I keep their UVB light on? You said no Heat lights..... UTHs? So late Dec, start cooling them and then begining of Feb start bringing them back up? How do I "Gradually" bring the heat up? Only turn one light on? Put them back in the Herp room (If I take them out)?

Like I said before, a lot of these questions sound dumb but I want to double check everything I've been told or heard. Thanks a bunch!
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2.0 Iguanas, 2.4 Beardies, 1.2 Saharan/Nigerian Uromastyx, 0.0.2 Leos, 0.0.1 African Fat Tail, 1.0 Columbian Rainbow Boa, 0.0.1 Fla Garter Snake, 0.1 eastern garter, 0.0.1 Banded California King Snake (M.I.A.), 0.0.1 Corn Snake, 0.0.3 Fire Belly Toads, 1.0 Eastern Painted Turtle, 0.0.1 African Sideneck, 2 Horses (soon to be three {Baby next May!!!}), 4 cats, 1 dog, and I'm still not done.....