Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a trio of great looking yellow head collareds, 1 male and 2 females. They were brumated appropiately. My 1 female is fully blushed in orange and is very large ( abdomen wise ); in other words very gravid looking. She has maintained her blush and size now for a solid 2 months. She's in a very large tank with all the home comforts, LOL. Any thoughts on why she hasn't dropped yet? I feel like a nervous expecting parent.
Thanks
Todd

First I also love those yellowheads, LOL I'm waiting on some of mine to make me lil yellers.

Anyway as far as your girl,I know you said she has a large tank and comforts, but did you actually make her a laying box, or nest? Let us know on this one, if not have to do that.

Are you sure in that amount of time, that she could have just been orange (ovulating, but had not bred, and then later she did breed, takes about 24 days?

Has her appetite decreased, like it should near laying time?
Has she been digging, excessively?

These are all questions to think about.

There are only 2 things that can happen IF she does not lay.

1. She is going to re-absorb the eggs and soon her size will decrease and orange will slowly fade. And will return to normal.

2. And worst case, which I hope does NOT happen, she would be eggbound. Which there is not much you can do. A Vet would need to try and remove them, IF you would go that route.

Lets all hope she lays real soon and does fine
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Eve

The eggs can be aspirated which is very tricky and should be done by someone who knows the internals of a lizard. I have done it several times with chuckwallas with great success but I bet it would be tough on a small collared lizard. You really need to know when it is time. You don't want to do it too early as she may still lay and you don't want to wait too long as she will be too weak to pass them anyway. You really have to know the lizards. Tom

Thanks for the replies, eve and everyone else!

These yellowheads I have are real screamers, just love them. Whats really neat about them are the females really colorful too, and gotta love them bright yellow feet too.

Yes on the time factor; she has not faded in blush colors. I have not seen actual copulation. He has done some bobbing around her but has left her alone now; which says to me he's done the job. I have a whole side of the tank deep in sand with
thin flat rocks on top with a little moisture. Maybe she doesn't like my architecture, LOL. Does she need to be removed from the others? As for appetite, she slows down on eating for a little while then eats like a pig.
As for digging yes but in all the wrong places, aka digging where
there is no more sand ( the tank bottum )on the wrong side. I'm tempted add 8" of sand through out the whole tank, LOL!
Health wise, they are in great shape, no signs of egg binding
or illness. These animals are wild caught from western colorado
and I really want to produce captive bred to insure a parasite free stock!! She's driving me up a wall. I'll post pics when I learn how to do that.
Todd

sorry your lizard is not laying eggs. eve is the picture queen and these are her instructions for posting pictures LOL

As for pictures, first they have to be on your computer, in a file somewhere! Then :

You go here and register for photo Gallery space (each Kingsnake member gets free pic space.

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/index.pl

Register up top right, where it says free, later if you want more space you can choose a different account.

give your info, then it will tell you what to do. You pick a catagory such as collareds, and then , hit the "Browse "

This will retreive your picture, from your files on your
computer.

Now that your picture is in Photo Gallery, come back here, and under this text box, you will see:
Select Image from Photo Gallery, click the little arrow on the right and (Your picture should be here.)
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vonnie
***One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries. - A. A. Milne***

I can post them IN MY SLEEP NOW, Hahahhahahhhahaa

Hey Vonnie, another tip for ya for Helga, my uros also LOVE and will do cartwheels for superworm treats ! Ya may want to buy a few and try them !
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Eve

well i did give you credit for the picture instructions! i just thought that i would give you a break ha ha!
helga does seem to eat crickets easily and i found out that pet store primarily fed her crickets since she would not eat her veggies, i just don't want her to be dependent on bugs since she is supposed to eat veggies too! i think the food bowl confuses her. she likes to flick her tongue around the cage floor to find food. oh well she and i will work it out! but i am going to get insects for all the babes today.
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vonnie
***One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries. - A. A. Milne***

Yeah, always writing the same thing, LOL but hey, I remember when I did not know how to post them either.

Well, mine never ate crickets. But along with their salads, they have always gotten a few superworms handled to them.

I'm telling you they love them. The BIG supers not mealworms.
mine also love eating the raw split peas and lentils off the bottom of tank.

Okay, go get your bugs, I have to run too!

And also you are getting quite good on your posts,(well done)
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Eve

i had to let my southerness out with the y'all. well if i am getting better with my posts it is because i have learned and retained information from you guys! i just try to post things as i see it but i am still probably off about things, just typing my experiences. anyway, a cricket is chirping and i must go make someone eat it.
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vonnie
***One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries. - A. A. Milne***