Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all, been a few weeks. Well, I'd been going through fits with Daisy wondering if she were gravid or if I was just overzealous. I'm expecting her to lay sometime within the next week. I base this primarily upon Elizabeth's report of Erowen digging exploratory holes. For the past 3 days, I have come home to find holes in the nesting box, and dirt covering Daisy's head. I am hopeful.

I have still heard nothing from DFW regarding a permit. However, agents haven't kicked in my door over a few lizards, so again, I'm hopeful.

Randy won't eat worms. He appears to be a superworm and cricket kind of guy. I also need to get another fecal on him. Despite a good appetite, he is thin. I've found that the ladies seem to have an affinity for Canadian Crawlers over my European Crawlers. I'm thinking that perhaps something in my worm substrate is not to their liking. Again, I use coconut husk for worm bedding, and keep the Euro Crawlers on a vermicomposting diet. I also add calcium to the mix. The Canadian Crawlers I get from an outfitter in town.

I attended the the herp show in White Plains NY this past weekend, and went on a search for MHD's. The vendor I originally purchased my trio from was there, and only had 3 dragons - all in poor condition. Another vendor had a small display with several dragons. Only 2 appeared to A.capra. Although I still feel very much the rookie, I believe that the other 4 in the display were A.crucigera. They were smaller than the capras and light cream color with black just behind their forelimbs and up around their necks. Based upon the pictures I have seen of A.armata, these did not appear to be the same. What do you think? I was left with the impression that Armata is seen from time to time, and Crucigera even less frequently. Is this the case? I enjoy the shows, and despite my appreciation for leopard geckos and beardies, it just seems that the shows are inundated with them.

Hope all of your dragons are doing well.

Don M.

if there was PACKED dirt on her head, I would look for eggs, if she was just dirty (belly sides, head, underpart of the tail) I would think she is practicing
Good luck
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Elizabeth (ecb)

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

Usually when they are digging multiple holes they are looking for the perfect depth and moisture content. The soil needs to pack firmly but not be soggy. They will lay if it is too wet but seem to hold off if it is dry.

Let us know when she lays, eggs are always exciting! As for the dirt on her head, if she is trying to tunnel that is quite normal. I have girls who just dig a hole, drop the eggs, and then bury them. Others, however, prefer to tunnel and make real elaborate nests. Lil' Darla just laid her first clutch of this season the other day. I'm kind of glad she just dug and laid cuz when I found her in her hole she was obviously having a contraction and I actually got to see her lay the egg. It was really amazing! I have video taped a female before while laying eggs and in one spot you could see the egg drop into the hole, but with Lil' D she was at just the right angle so that everything was in clear view!

Government is slow! I bet you aren't going to have a problem. I know a guy who raises and sells herps from his home in a town that doesn't allow exotic pets. I guess they picked up his heat when doing a check for potential pot growers and checked his house. Since he didn't have the contraband they were looking for they didn't do or say anything! I think that's funny!

So, How do your Eros compare to the Canadians? I haven’t had any luck getting them to a size that my adults wouldn’t need to eat 20 or so of. Last spring we had a heavy rain that brought out some of the bigest nightcrawlers I have ever seen. In NE they were usually small like what they sell as dew worms. These ones her in SD were 10-12” long stretched out and fat too. I picked up an easy 5-6 dozen in no time and my gang feasted for days on them. Wish it would rain more often!

I wouldn’t worry about Randy too much as long as the fecal comes back clean. My males never eat as much as the females and are also more inclined to go on hunger strikes. Especially in the winter months.

I have to agree with you about the help shows. I love them, especially when I have babies to sell. It does seem though that everyone is breeding beardies or leos. Here in the Midwest we have a guy that raises all sort of different geckos, some really different and less common ones. I always love looking at his animal. The snakes seem to be the same, corns, pythons, and boas. We do get quite a few pits here though and some nice kingsnakes. I love the pits but have my hands full and am looking for a home for the ones I have. I just wish that instead of everyone wanting to breed the same stuff that more people would try to get started with some of the import stuff like our MHDs. There are so many that aren’t being bred in captivity and it is exciting to see new species.

It’s hard to say for sure but it does sound like the aniamls you saw were possibly A. crucigera. I will disagree with you however on which is more common. I have heard of more A. crucigera than A. armata. I have been looking for A. armata since I started working with the Acanthosaura back in ’99. This summer was the first confirmation of any having been available. A. crucigera is smaller than the A. capra and A. armata so that is another clue to them being A. crucigera.

So, hope all goes well with your girl. Hope she lays soon and uneventfully!
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Marcia - FroggieB Dragons
www.froggieb.com/MHDHome.html

Thanks to the both of you for the responses. One of my laundry-list of concerns has been wondering if the laying substrate I have provided, is not to Daisy's liking. It is moist coconut fiber. It is certainly moist, and has a depth of at least 8 inches. However I think I am going to give it a good soaking this evening. I entertained the idea of wetting it down well, and then covering the area with some fresh leaf litter - which we currently have plenty of, here in New England. Unnecessary? I rationalized this may appear a bit more natural for the WC dragons.

And Marcia, thank you for clearing up the Armata, Crucigera commonality. Up until last Sunday, I had only ever seen A.capra. I am certain they were not capra, as they distinctly had occipital horns. Had I the space and another enclosure, I would likely have taken the whole lot. I am still interested in finding another healthy female capra.

I really hope to have some exciting pictures to post soon. And then, if I'm lucky, the wait starts for me as well.

As for worms, I'm really thinking about getting a flat of Canadians and maybe picking up a college dorm type fridge. However, with Winter around the corner, our basement should suffice. The Europeans are definitely smaller than the Canadians, but do seem to be larger than Redworms. I order most of my feeder foods from WormMan in NJ. Haven't been disappointed yet.

thanks for the endorsement of him, I have been to his forum, but was not sure about ordering from him
so I went with someone else, and ended up with large redworms 9look JUST LIKE red wrigglers)
they will work, but they are small, and I have 1000 in my vermicomposter downstairs, why do i need to BUY more
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Elizabeth (ecb)

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

8" of substrate is great. That should be plenty. I use the coconut fiber too and if it is nice and dark and will pack nicely you may not have to add more water. If it is crumbly then I would give it a sprinkle. The leaf litter sure couldn't hurt. I guess I have enough dead leave from the philodendroms to make mine feel at home!

Good luck!
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Marcia - FroggieB Dragons
www.froggieb.com/MHDHome.html