Reptile & Amphibian Forums

As you all may recall, I caught the red-heads mating a while back (here's my favorite picture of it, in case you forgot - haha!). Arthur - the female - is looking decidedly plump, though that may just be my hopeful eye (and quick glimpses, as she's not happy to be looked at). If she is, in fact, gravid from that encounter, she should be ready to lay in a couple weeks.

I'm hoping to get some advice from folks who have had viable eggs laid in the past. What sort of laying chamber did you provide and what was in it? How moist? Where in the cage - warm side? middle? cool side?

My thinking is that they would want to lay in a place that will be ideal for incubation, yes? So does that mean I should get the tub in a spot where it will maintain the right temps? What about at night? Should I maintain even chamber temps until she lays or just let it cool at night like the rest of the cage?

Thanks for any help! I'm totally new to this breeding thing in any species. I may just be hopeful here, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

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Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1 Uromastyx Geyri (Joe and Arthur)
2.0.1 Uromastyx Dispar Maliensis (Tank, Turtle, and Spike)
1.2 Anolis Carolinensis (Bowser, Leeloo, and Sprocket)
0.1 African Dwarf Frogs (Sheila)
1.0 Betta Splendens (Mr. Miagi)
1.1 Felis Domesticus (Roscolux and Jenny)

I don't have any personal experience, however I know someone who has a lot. And his website is the first place to start. Go to the following link and read everything Doug has to say about breeding. The first thing you need to do, and ASAP, is make an egg laying box. Doug provides pictures for some of these. The information you need to read is near the bottom of the page in the link under breeding. He even gives time proven temps for incubation. He has had great success with Saharans too.
Good luck! and congratulations!

Craigo
Uromastyx care sheet

Does Doug pay you?

Thanks for the recommendation. I'm very, very familiar with his site and have read it over a great many times. My questions aren't answered there, though, so I thought I'd see if folks here could help me.

I know the proper recommended incubation temps and I have a nest box. Question is, do I need incubation temps in the nest box to get her to lay her eggs in it?

Thanks!

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Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1 Uromastyx Geyri (Joe and Arthur)
2.0.1 Uromastyx Dispar Maliensis (Tank, Turtle, and Spike)
1.2 Anolis Carolinensis (Bowser, Leeloo, and Sprocket)
0.1 African Dwarf Frogs (Sheila)
1.0 Betta Splendens (Mr. Miagi)
1.1 Felis Domesticus (Roscolux and Jenny)

Huh, you'd think so with the number of times I've referred people to his site, but no. ;~)
I've been over to his place a couple of times (bought my egyptian microlepis from him) and I've seen his operation. He really cares about his critters. In fact, I was just there a week ago Friday. He had a couple of egg laying boxes in use, and they were not heated other than the ambient temps inside the terrarium. He popped the top of one of them so my 5 year old son could take a look at the uro inside. No eggs had been layed yet. I noticed that the soil was somewhat moist. Just enough so that it could clump for a burrow I suppose. One more thing. I was at his place to get some lights and food sups. He does his own testing on UVB light bulbs that are on the market. He showed me some active tests and I was able to see the readouts on his meter. That Arcadia bulb he's currently selling is definitely better than others you find at pet stores. And his uros were diggin' it. It doesn't decay as quickly as most either. Uh oh, there I go again. I'll just say, his pitch isn't a bunch of hype just to sell product.

good luck,
Craigo

Thanks! That helps - knowing they weren't heated, etc.

My friend Veronica got to see his operation last year, and she was mightily impressed! I love his website - I go just to sigh over the pictures and think about all the uros I want...
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Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1 Uromastyx Geyri (Joe and Arthur)
2.0.1 Uromastyx Dispar Maliensis (Tank, Turtle, and Spike)
1.2 Anolis Carolinensis (Bowser, Leeloo, and Sprocket)
0.1 African Dwarf Frogs (Sheila)
1.0 Betta Splendens (Mr. Miagi)
1.1 Felis Domesticus (Roscolux and Jenny)

I hear you. I plan to get a breeding pair of yellow phase geryi's from Doug this summer. One for myself and one for my son. Birthday presents!

How do your geryi's tolerate handling? Do you house them together all the time, or do you have seperate cages? My egyptian absolutely hates handling. And since I don't like to get bloodied by his tail, I leave him alone. Doug said that as they (egyptians) get older they tend to tame down. I hope so.

Thanks,
Craigo

My pair have been together since I got them less than two years ago (the male was about 2 months after the female). They get along just great together, though I have housing ready for the female if she gets grumpy - assuming she's gravid, which she may not be.

In general they don't tolerate handling. They aren't aggressive about it, they just don't let me catch them in the first place. The male thrashes a lot if you can catch him, but is small enough not to do me any damage. The female is pretty placid but ready to bolt in an instant. Both were wild caught adults. You might have better luck if they are long term captive or captive bred. Of course individuals are unique, so maybe Doug can hook you up with a pair that's pretty mellow.
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Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1 Uromastyx Geyri (Joe and Arthur)
2.0.1 Uromastyx Dispar Maliensis (Tank, Turtle, and Spike)
1.2 Anolis Carolinensis (Bowser, Leeloo, and Sprocket)
0.1 African Dwarf Frogs (Sheila)
1.0 Betta Splendens (Mr. Miagi)
1.1 Felis Domesticus (Roscolux and Jenny)

I have only had monitor eggs, not uros, but I don't believe you need incubation temps for the nest box. My monitor didn't even lay her eggs in the nest box, she laid them under the retes stack. Hopefully your girl will choose the nest box, it makes it a lot easier for egg retrieval. I would get your incubator set up in advance so you can make sure your temps and humidity level are correct before you add your egg box with the medium. I used perlite this time with success. I did not have success with vermiculite, I couldn't keep the humidity up high enough and the babies died in the egg. Best of luck to you, I hope to hear some great news in a few months!

Pam

That's so exciting! My saharans produced 15 healthy viable eggs last season! I used a rubbermaid container with an entrance hole in the side(If we do this again I'm going to put the entrnace hole in the top!)The container should be large enough for her to turn around in and deep enough to dig a nest about 6in. I used dampened play sand for the nest substrate. She was digging around in there for several days before actually laying.
I was fortunate to have been there to watch her lay the eggs!I was so excited! I removed the eggs right after she was done. it is very easy to tell which eggs are viable because they will have a visible red circle. I placed the eggs in a plastic container with very slightly dampened vermiculite(the eggs are very sensetive to humitity so becareful!)The incubator was set at 93 but it did fluxuate between 90-96. Still after 72 days I had 15 healthy babies!
Good luck!

Thank you for the information! That's a lot of babies!! I just hope she really is gravid - it's so hard to tell when I only see her for 5 seconds as she's scrambling for cover when I walk in the room.
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Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1 Uromastyx Geyri (Joe and Arthur)
2.0.1 Uromastyx Dispar Maliensis (Tank, Turtle, and Spike)
1.2 Anolis Carolinensis (Bowser, Leeloo, and Sprocket)
0.1 African Dwarf Frogs (Sheila)
1.0 Betta Splendens (Mr. Miagi)
1.1 Felis Domesticus (Roscolux and Jenny)

Gexy

I am a little confused.

In another forum you detailed your geryi hatching methods and indicated that you incubated your eggs in a hovabator with a temperature that fluctuated between 88-92F and a hatch rate of 71-78 days.

I mentioned to you that some research was showing that we might be incubating geryi eggs too low and after several failed clutches I increased my incubation temperature to 93F and that six weeks into this incubation the entire clutch was looking strong. You posted your opinion that you thought I was incubating a few degrees too high.. (I did eventually have 100% success hatch rate at 93F in 65-67 days)

Your post here on KS now mentions you had your incubator set at 93F and you incubated at 90-96F and the uros hatched out in 72 days.

Correct me if I am wrong but you only had one successful clutch of uromastyx- why the inconsistent incubation data and which is correct the detailed walkthrough you gave last summer right after hatching or this new one?

Deb luvs uros(you wouldn't also be uro-fan?),

First of all to address the discrepancy in incubation temps. When I first placed the eggs in the hovabator the temp was 88f and I was told by Doug Dix that that was a bit too low so I did up the temp to 93f. 93f is the ideal incubation tempurature.However, on more than one occassion I did come home to find the temps up as high as 96f! I also made note of that. Obviously a bit of fluctuation in temp is not always a bad thing (I think we've had a discussion about that before haven't we!)So, when I mentioned my incubation temps perhaps I should have said 88-96! Anyway, at these temps I successfully hatched 15 of 16 eggs, which went on to become healthy little eating machines! I also want to add the babies began hatching at 71days the last one to hacth came at 78 days! Hopefully this clarifys things for you! Unalike yourself I'm not trying to tell hobbyists what they need to do, I'm only telling them what worked for me! That's all.

Gexy,

You wrote:

“Unalike yourself I'm not trying to tell hobbyists what they need to do, I'm only telling them what worked for me!”

Please understand that I do not have a problem with anyone sharing their own experience or passing on what has worked for them. I was just pointing out that the incubation information you shared here with El Toro was quite a bit different than what you shared with me back in June shortly after you incubated.

I am even more confused since your last response. You indicated that Doug informed you that you were incubating too low and you increased your incubation temperatures to the “ideal” (your word not mine) temperature of 93F and that you had incubation temperatures that fluctuated up to 96F. If all of this is true, then it seems a little odd that ‘after’ you successfully incubated your geryi eggs by setting your incubator at the ‘ideal’ 93F with temperatures reaching 96F you posted telling me that I was incubating too high at 93F.

As I already mentioned, I do not have a problem with someone sharing their experiences- I just saw some serious inconsistencies in your data. Stating you incubated at 93F and had 15 babies after 72 days is clearly not the same as incubating at 88-92 with hatching up to 78 days and warning someone else that incubating at 93F is too high.

If you want to further discuss this, I suggest we take this offline.