Reptile & Amphibian Forums

In July my boyfriend brought me a gravid female he took from the wild. She was injured, something had attacked her face and tail, and she was very ill. I nursed her and put her in with my adult male and yearling female. I was surprised when on July 14 she laid 6 eggs. I was afraid the trauma she had sustained would affect her pregnancy, but she has put on some weight and is doing just great now. She is very social and is adjusting to captivity well.
I bought a hovabator and incubated the eggs in moist vermiculite at a constant 87 degrees. 4 eggs failed to thrive and grow. 2 eggs hatched on August 30. One egg was much smaller than the other, and that hatchling died soon upon emerging. The hatchling is very active and alert, and it's poop (after being force fed) contains enough white to make me think it is drinking. But it will not eat. I have provided it with tiny crickets and mealworms. After 2 days of not eating I force fed it some mealworms. Once I got a worm in it's mouth it swallowed greedily with no attempts to spit the worm out. Am I doing the right thing? How much should this little one be eating? It goes outside every day to bask in the New Mexico sun and has the proper heat and light in it's cage. Any suggestions will be greatly apprecaited. Thanks very much.

i have never had a hatchling but i do know that eve just had a hatchling and he did not eat for two weeks. in their eggs they have yolks which is food to them so sometimes they don't need to eat for several days after they hatch. i would say stop force feeding him for now because it is stressful to them.
good job with the injured female!
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vonnie
***Marriage is a great institution, but I'm not ready for an institution yet. Mae West ***

it is fine that he is NOT eating yet. He will soon eat on his own. They are set up so to speak, to survive on the yolk they have absorbed.

My last hatchling hatched on Augest 8th and did not eat for 4 days.
Another hatchling prior to that was plump when hatched and did not eat for 2 weeks. I do admit that made me uneasy, but its normal.

If he is basking and doing well otherwise (not acting sickly)

Then do not force feed, you will create alot of undue stress on the little guy !

Especially do not use mealies, first hes too young, and second they are very hard to digest for the adults with the high chitin content. Use small crickets when he does eat. In a few weeks he will be eating larger ones.

I do offer small superworms at about 2 months.

Just make sure your baby is well hydrated. To make sure hes drinking water use an eye dropper and drip drips on his nose, and see if he will start to lick.

Good luck with your baby ! Hope he does great.

Let us know how ya do !
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Eve

When all settles down for you, and ya get your Mommy collared all situated and fixed up and baby is fine, then post us a pic of your little collared family.

We love pics, and like to meet the lizards we talk about,
So stick around and join in, a little slow now, but a bunch of nice people.

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Eve

Thanks for the welcome Eve,

I would love to post pictures of my lil collared family but I don't have a clue how!!

As you post message, the are an "Image URL:" text zone.

Just paste the whole http://mypicture.com/lizard.jpg without apostrophe in that zone.

There's another way by using forums tags... lokk a the tools and toy link below to see how to define multiples images.
Link

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Alex & Marie-Ève

Thanks for answering so soon. I'll quit making it eat. This just seems such a little miracle baby, and I would feel terrible if it didn't live. The mama (Saige) was hurt so bad about the mouth that she was not eating when I got her. She did finally eat mealworms from a bowl, I guess hunting and eating crickets must have hurt her. Saige has a crooked smile now, with a scar down her chin and a broken tail, but she is a little sweetie and runs to me if something scares her. I was unprepared knowledge-wise to care for a gravid female or her eggs, and had convinced myself after losing 4 eggs that there would be no hatchlings. This forum was a great help to me in getting this far, thank you all so much.

When the hatchling starts to eat, how much is normal in a day? Thanks very much.

oh poor girl! she is lucky that she got sent to you! don't feel bad about losing four eggs. i have lost every single egg this year, which is close to 20. most of them just haven't been fertile or maybe my lizards don't have enough calcium. i wasn't expecting eggs so this is my first year trying this. i do believe i am the only person on the forum to not get an egg hatched so i am jealous that you got a baby!
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vonnie
***Marriage is a great institution, but I'm not ready for an institution yet. Mae West ***

I never studied anything about babes because I didn't think I would be able to stand to hibernate the inmates and therefore would never have a gravid female. But gee, this little hatchling is soooo cute! I might have to try hibernating them after all. (Somehow that name stuck....."Where are the inmates? Their cell is empty!" "Oh, they are out in the exercise yard."

well much to my surprise, i have never hibernated my lizards and the orange just will not stop. ivan turned orange first in early april, took a break in june and july and just recently laid some eggs. milly turned gravid for the first time at the end of july and just recently became orange again. i have given up on having an egg hatch this season but i still incubate the eggs until they mold over because i haven't the heart to throw them out until then
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vonnie
***Marriage is a great institution, but I'm not ready for an institution yet. Mae West ***

Oh my...with 2 females that might get interesting. I had already decided I had to quit at 3 and now I have this lil hatchling, too. Saige has never completely lost her gravid colors, some days I think they are brighter than others and the male (Otis) has certainly been trying to get to her lately! The yearling female (Fawn) shows no interest in him either, he must be a really frustrated guy.

their last clutch of eggs ! Hhehehe

I dont know how many times she has layed this year, but it is not uncommon for some females to lay 3 clutches a season.

I have atleast one female is is geting ready to lay again and it is Sept! have Fun !
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Eve

The eggs hatched at about 50 days and Saige has shown no signs of more eggs. All of my lizards were taken from the wild and I don't know their history. Otis is fully grown and I am not sure of either of their ages. Fawn was pretty small when I got her in June making me think she is a yearling. She never had any red or orange on her, and her brown is changing to green. They all lived at an elevation of over 5000 feet and it gets cold early in the year. I'm not sure how long of a season they have here. Photos coming soon, hopefully. Thanks for the help.

about 3 times a day, until hes a little bigger. Thats waht I usually do, I have a little squirt who is a month old this weekend, and that little girl nails about 6 - 8 small crickets
each time. Shes got a nice round tummy

They are adorable ! Nothing as cute!

Dont listen to Vonnie, she will get kids next season, she a good Mom and has done wonders with some lizards she has!

We have all had and will have some bad times with eggs, believe me.

But when all turns out well, it sure is a rewarding, and enjoyable thing to watch them and hatch, just

AWESOME!
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Eve

I saw the hatchling chase down and eat a cricket this morning!! Whew! I will really be happy when it eats several at a feeding like Eve's.