Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok i'm following the whole theory on allowing the Uro's to choose the proper temperatures through their burrowing, and that they will end up choosing the proper temps to lay eggs at providing the environment is properly set up and stable.

Now in your experience (perhaps even relate to monitors) would you or do you attempt to just let the eggs hatch naturally? It would seem that if the setup is done right and the critters have then knowingly chosen the egg laying site due to ideal conditions, that perhaps it would just be the ideal place to let the eggs stay for the duration? Have you or anyone else tried this? Is it maybe just too risky as in nature even with ideal conditions maybe there will be too many losses to make it feasible?

I'm still a ways away from being able to breed my Uro since he's still so young but a sort of controlled "natural" hatching seems like it would be something i'd want to try when he is of the right maturity.Even at least once to see how feasible it might be.

This really isn't just a "Robyn question", any input and discussion at all is greatly appreciated.It's something i'd though about before and wondered if anyone has tried this and with any success? It seems to fit in well with what Robyn's been doing with lizard care and the soil issues.

we have hatched reptile eggs in our soil, but not yet on purpose

one of my goals for the next year or two is to leave both Gila and Uro eggs to hatch in the setup. of course, we have to actually GET Uro eggs first, but we are only 4 months in, so i am not yet worried about that

with the right setup and soil, certainly it can be done, i know of monitor breeders that have done it. but just like with snake eggs, you eliminate a lot of the variables by incubating them yourself. and to make it more difficult, most lizard eggs need to cook longer than snakes, so there is more exposure to problems there...

i will say though, if you are going to leave the eggs in the soil for the full term (and expect healthy babies), you REALLY have to know your stuff, and it really needs to be fine tuned! soil temps, moisture levels, breathability of the soil, other animals not disturbing the nest, these are the fine details that usually nature provides, and the subtle aspects that are easiest to overlook as captive breeders

we have one group of Uros already setup in our "let's leave the eggs be" cage (a really large, 10 ft diameter circular cage). now we just need to wait another 8 months or so (i do expect to have breeding, egg laying Uros within 12 months time!)
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

I had a lot of babies of several species hatching in tanks from overseen clutches. Besides of course many geckos, this includes also species with more sensitive egg incubation conditions like green basilisks, jewelled lacertas, Gallotia galloti eisentrautii, veiled chameleons, green ameivas and even plated lizards.
Leaving clutches willingly in the tank also can enable us to detect hitherto unknown brood care of some species. Or did you know that plated lizard females as well as jewelled lacerta females do guard and defend their egg laying place and even to some extend regulate the humidity level of it?
We never find out about such things if we immediately remove eggs.
The mass of overseen clutches in my tanks (distributed over many years)is mainly due to the fact that I do only use naturalistically furnished tanks with thick layers of natural substrate.
Also of some species which are not easy to trade or sell, I do sometimes just leave the eggs willingly their and do not even catch the hatchlings. Still some survive till adulthood.
To soem extend you can guess the success of a clutch buried in the tank:
If THE perfect egg laying place is present, female lizards do not dig a lot around. They just dig a hole or tunnel and relatively quickly lay their eggs. This can easisly be overseen , especially for species or specimens which do not loose much weight upon oviposition.
A female which digs a lot at changing places till she finally lays their eggs, in most cases does so, because she is unable to find THE perfect place. So I´d say clutches from the first case have a much higher probability to hatxch than clutches form the second case.
I would assume that in a well furnished cage, uro eggs would hatch as well as all th eother eggs.
But incubating in an incubator is much safer. You exclude any strong humidity fluctuation and leftover feeder insects which could prey on the eggs. As in nature, hatching rates in the tank are often significantly below 100%, whereas with some experience with the respective species, you normally have 100% hatching rate from healthy females eggs in an incubator.
Its always very thrilling to find unexpected babies in a tank. But quite often not all may hatch and often the parents do eat them before you find them (last week I found 4 Babylizard tails in the tank of my jewelled lacertas). Even Uros may eat their babies.
In an incubator its safe and if the conditions are apt, hatchlings are as healthy as possible.

Ci@o

Ingo

Great shot !

Eve