Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering how tough it is breed ackies. I was wondering if it is anything like breeding dragons?

To get them to breed is the easy part. It is what comes of it that is a challenge.

what do you mean?

anyone can get a pair. Throw them together and they will breed or should breed. Thats the easy part.

What comes of that is the hard part. By that i mean, proper nesting, temps. diet, incubation, etc. etc. etc.

If you can't figure out what i am talking about then your in for a even harder time.

I've got a pair, sex is undetermined at this point as they are only about 13" overall. Someone with more experience might be able to determine their sex, I'll decide when I see copulation. I'll admit I haven't researched this (breeding) much yet as they are young and I'm focusing on my temps, diet, getting them acclimated, humidity, all the things that come prior to breeding.
Tomorrow I'm getting a stock tank and I pretty much have to start all over again. After watching all the digging activity I see a herper may have to dig up the majority of an enclosure to find the eggs. What is good nesting? My pair are on a few inches of soil now, it doesn't hold a burrow well. In the stock tank I'm going to add equal amounts of sand to the soil, maybe this will help. Maybe a deeper layer will improve the soils ability to hold a burrow. Also does the temp. of the soil affect nesting.
Is there any reason for me to add a under tank heater? I would appreciate yours or anyone elses experiences with "good nesting"
Also, how long does a herper have to figure out a female has layed eggs, and dig them up prior to the eggs going bad? These are questions I've been contemplating since observing my pair, seeings how the guestion was up there figured I'd ask. Thanx, Clint

In my limited experience, the eggs go bad fairly quick if you don't find them. I think most breeders suggest a nest box in the cage with a good depth of medium so the female will hopefully lay her eggs there. The hardest part will be incubating them so they will hatch. I have had a number of eggs, some bad from the start, some I messed up with too little or too much moisture. I currently have two incubating and they were laid December 31, so that's now 52 days and they still look good. Keep your fingers crossed! Good luck!

Pam

That in captiveity everyone whines about the difficulty of incubating eggs(MYSELF INCLUDED). Eggs that are "harvested" in the wild, will hatch almost anywhere. You could forget about one in you pocket, and a few months latter youll have a little lizard. Weird.

What are you talking about???

Since when do people hatch them out of their pockets? Haha

If so much of what reproduction is, is what happens BEFORE the eggs are laid, it makes sense the wild eggs are hardier. The mothers had more choices than the captive girls.
I think we sabotage the babies before they are even conceived, in captivity. *shrug*
D.

You can take that two directions. One being the female has the right choices for laying her egg's. Therefor she can pick the best spot for them to incubate for a good hatch rate.

In captivity she is limited to her nesting so she may hold them to long or not lay them in a good spot to begin with, making them already subjected to a bad situation. This making a bad hatch rate.

Or you can say the female in the wild has had the right foods, right lights, right temps, etc. before even being gravid. Therefor if she lays her eggs anyplace they will hatch????

Thats the part I do not agree with. If you place it under water it will then hatch? if you place it under your hat it will hatch?

hahaha, Jody, I AM assuming the person incubating the eggs has an IQ higher than a tree. *sigh* I assume too much sometimes, it seems...
D.

Assumptions are bad.

Improper nesting is when your cycling female or gravid female wants to lay her eggs but does not recognize the material so therefore will not lay them in it, or wont dig much in it at all. They will if your very very lucky at that point drop them whereever they can or if your not lucky they will become bound up as Ive had happen with Sobek and surgery was required, I wouldnt allow her to hold them beyond 4 weeks. Proper nesting was a substrate that they recognize and will dig in as well lay eggs in, I switched Sobeks substrate too late therefore she would dig and dig but not lay.
A male ackie has a wider thicker head than a female, the male has spurs by his vent, the female doesnt.

both sexes of ackies have spurs......head thing is right tho

Yup, both sexes have spurs, and the head thing is wrong. Sometimes its accurate, sometimes its not. Therein lies the problem. For instance, when they are young, its not obvious. Even thought they are big enough to reproduce. Also, if the female is older then the male, it can be confusing as well.

Once your fairly experienced, then its not to hard to tell adults, but I have challenged many people who thought they had it down. All failed. You see, its not the easy(normal) ones that cause doubts, its the dang oddballs, and there are many of them. FR

They can be a challange or the easiest thing in the world. A lot of people breed them like clockwork. They are definately one of the easier monitor species to breed, but are different than dragons and a bit more picky about nesting and such. If you are going to try your hand at breeding monitors, they would be a good first choice.
Justin J