Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Since the F.I.R.E. show we've been kind of wrapped up in getting our new uro and ackies settled in. We have 3 mali uros (2 female, 1 male) that are living together. The male and female that i had previously had have been living in the same cage for about 7 months now. Except for when they were first introduced, we haven't noticed any breeding behavior (except when the new girl was introduced, the male bobbed his head a few times and she flipped over). Since we hadn't had the uros out in a while, we took them out today to let them run around the room. Our female that we have had longer has been eating a lot more lately, but then she's always been a little piglet. She usually puffs up a bit when we first take her out, so today we thought nothing of the fact that when we took her out that she seemed a bit more... rotund than usual. But then she never relaxed (she usually lets out a nice big snort and then goes back to her normal size pretty quickly. Although she is on the chubby side, there has always been that bit of extra skin on the side, and her skin seems stretched rather tight across her now (at least there's no extra). We were feeling gently around her lower stomach and... we think we felt an egg! We were not trying to breed our uros, there have been no brumation periods, and like I said we haven't particularly noticed them mating or anything. We do, at times, spend a few days away (with the lights on timers). What we could feel was probably about the size of a dime, and we didn't wanna go poking her around anymore now that we had an inkling of what could be going on.

So umm.... is my uro gravid??? Help??? What should we be doing!? she is eating her greens and seeds like a pig!

thanks
-----
"no time for the old in-and-out love, i've just come to read the meter"

Emily
npoh.egomantra.com

hmmm its possible that she may be carrying eggs, only one way to find out. here are some signs to look for. male displays head bobbing and side nipping behavior. also he may be aggressive towards other males at this time. if the female is non-receptive females will usually roll on their backs to avoid the males mounting attempts. the female will begin to show signs of being gravid such as swelling. egg deposition should take place in about 1 month. if you believe your female to be gravid make sure to boost her calcium carbonate intake a little to help with egg formation. and if she deposits eggs go ahead and incubate them in a 7-3 ratio of substrate (vermiculite/sand mix is good) to water. incubation should take between 85-95 days healthy hatchlings will be about 2 inches in STL and weigh betwen 6-8 grams....well good luck and hope you have babies!

oh yeah and you want those temps to be about 90-92 degrees farenheit for incubation, and feed her as much as she will eat and you might try giving her a deposition box...if not just watch her for trying to dig a burrow or bury the eggs and is that quote from clockwork orange? hehe thats a crazy movie