Reptile & Amphibian Forums

normally i take crappy pics..I've got to learn how to set up lighting properly for good photos... This one just happened to turn out great; better than any of my other pics... So, enjoy. This is my female, as evidenced by her narrow little head... The male's head is colossal when compared to hers.. Take care everyone,

bob

sorry for that...I think I should start putting a nickel in a jar everytime I do that... after a year, I should have enough for a pair of pilbarensis..hahahaha.. Cheers,

bob

Wow awesome pic very nice. There is a "petstore" near me that specializes in reptiles mostly monitors and they have a Blue Tree for sale. Gorgeous animal but I would not be able to provide big enough enclosure for it. oh well hopefully someone picks him up someday and give him a good home.

Doug

np

n/p

how long after copulation do your tree monitors lay eggs???i have a real fat croc now that i seperated from the male on sept 1 cause she looked so fat then..shes still eating..her tail looks fine...any input?..thanks...billy

hey billy,

As far as my blue female goes, the last time she laid, was i believe 32 days after the last whitnessed copulation. In the last 8-9 days prior to oviposition, she began to thin out in the hip/tailbase area- as she was most likely using that water towards producing the fertile eggs that she did lay.. I have heard reports of members of the prasinus complex having a gestation period of up to 45 days.. However, I would imagine that salvadorii would be different, as they are not all that similar to prasinus type animals, when compared to other members of the subgenus Euprepiosaurs.. Their habits and lifestyles may be similar, but I would imagine their reproductive to differ a bit.. Perhaps ask around with Lace keepers, or pull records on captive Komodos, as far as gestation... as from the most recent study done on Varanid genetics, done by Jennifer Ast, places Laces and Komodos together, with salvadori being a close relative.. closer than any other varanid.. Perhaps DK could shed some light on his female's gestation times..

I would also think that nesting situations could play an important factor on how long a female will hold eggs for... That is why I try to give my blue female as many options as possible(that I can accomodate in their cage), to try and avoid any egg-binding, or dead eggs-from being held on to too long..etc.

I am waiting for my macraei girl to hopefully lay sometime in the next two weeks.. She has been digging around, and throwing the contents of one of her nest boxes all over the place.. Have you seen any nesting behaviors, or "scoping" behaviors?

I have been fooled many times by my animals, thinking they were in fact gravid, only to never get any eggs.. whether they absorbed them, or were never gravid in the first place, is something I hope to figure out, through time, patience, and experience...

If her health does not seem affected, I would not worry, just let it ride out, and see what happens... Cheers billy,

bob

although he was all over her...i stayed out of the reptile garage as much as possible when i thought they might be at it...and when she looked real fat and was nosing in the substraight i seperated them...anyway sounds like it may take a couple more weeks...or she may just absorb them...or worse case become egg bound and die...thanks for the help....billy

you may be interested to know (and I have no idea if this is the case with other monitors) that my female acts (and looks a bit)like she's gravid when she's cycling. She hangs her belly, she refuses food and she does test digs. After copulation, she returns to normal for a while, then starts digging again. The test digs start off cursory and shallow, later get deeper as laying time approaches.

Look for your female sticking her nose in the shallow holes when she first starts digging.

Have you checked the temperature under your substrate? Just in case, you may want to provide a nest box in addition to the substrate and create a heat gradient in there with a thermostatically controlled heat mat under the substrate in the nestbox. Set the thermostat for around 30C.

I've only bred my lacies a couple of times, so I'm no expert by any means, but temperature seemed to be a very important factor in where she chose to lay.

Hey Bob and rope,

My female lacie has followed a pattern (so far) very similar to your blue trees, Bob. She has laid 29-30 days after the first copulation and the base of her tail starts to look thin 5-7 days before laying, around the same time she refuses food.

In the case of this female, it's the way she refuses food that's sometimes the giveaway, as she doesn't seem to even register that it's food. Doesn't look at it, doesn't flick her tongue or anything, very different from how she would refuse food she just doesn't like the look of. It seems as though the hormones have completely switched off the food response.