Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Sorry, I know this is kind of off topic since it's about tegus but I know that some of you monitor guys also work with tegus so I'm hoping some of you may have some suggestions.

I've been attempting to breed my CB00 Argentine red tegus for 2 years with minimal success so far (atleast by my standards
I've observed copulation and gotten eggs from my female for 2 years in a row. Last year, none of them hatched and this year I expect maybe 20% or less to hatch.

During my 1st attempt, I cooled my tegus down from mid November of 2003 until late January of 2004. I had a lot of problems keeping consistantly cooler temps that year but the tegus were kept mostly in the dark and went off feed for that time period. Afterward, they were moved back out to their outdoor enclosure. (A 16' x 7' pen.) A month or two later, I observed copulation several times. When I knew the female was gravid, I removed the male and set up several nesting boxes for her. (some with soil, some with damp sphagnum moss). She layed several eggs all over her pen (some looked fertile, some didn't) and it took her almost a full week to lay them all. She layed a total of 35 eggs in 2004 (most looked fertile). I incubated them at 84 degrees in vermiculite (1:1 ratio) and lost them all within a few weeks. I assumed my problems were caused by my inability to provide her with consistant temps during her brumation that year.

In 2004, I brumated them again. This time I was able to keep consistant temps of 60F. They came out of brumation fine and she was placed in the outdoor enclosure with the male. I witnessed copulation several times again this year and she layed 38 eggs in May. Again, she layed a couple stray eggs around her enclosure and I noticed that she seemed to be searching for a suitable nesting spot but didn't like any of the ones I provided. After about 2 days she layed the remaining eggs (38) in her burrow. I watched her push the nesting materials that I had provided into her burrow as if she was saying "set it up like this, you idiot!"
This year, I've lost most of the eggs again but fortunately, I have 8-10 that are still fertile with a few weeks left and have moving embryos inside.

I suspect that my low fertility this year is probably due to her holding the eggs too long because she didn't have a nesting site that she liked. Last year, she held them even longer and none of the eggs made it. I guess it's also possible that the male or female have fertility problems but I would like to rule out problems that I can control before I assume that.

Next year, I plan to leave a variety of nesting materials at the edge of her burrow and let her construct her own nesting site. I also plan to construct a nesting chamber similar to the one Dr. Seward constructed for his gilas as another option. This design is supposed to make the lizard believe it has layed it's eggs deep in a burrow because it has went around several corners.
http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=469144,469144

So I'm wondering...

1. How do you guys brumate your tegus?
2. How do you set up nesting spots for your tegus?
3. I'm incubating at 84F on slightly moistened vermiculite or Perlite, does that sound about right?
4. I'm feeding my female rodents, a variety of fruits, and ground turkey supplemented with Minerall (outdoor formula) and Vit-All? See any nutitional problems?

Any advice, comments or constructive criticism is welcomed.
Thanks in advance,
Chris

Sure seems like a nesting problem. First why do you complicate the whole thing, instead of picking something and working on it.

For instance, she laid eggs, that means she did her job. There were fertile eggs, that means the male did his job. Which as you thought, it boils down to nesting.

What confuses me is, aren't these things commonly bred and commonly bred outdoors. The reason I ask is, all those folks do something to nest them, I have to wonder what that would be? Don't people offer help on the tegu forum?

I have several friends that breed those and used large piles of straw or some such thing. They seemed to do alright.

I like the plant matter in the hole, it seems to be, I would stack a huge pile of it in there.

When trying to solve problems, keep it simple and conquer one thing at a time, not mess the whole thing up, thinking your helping. Heck you got this far, how bad is that? Good luck FR

"Don't people offer help on the tegu forum?"

Not really, unfortunately.

"I have several friends that breed those and used large piles of straw or some such thing. They seemed to do alright."

That sounds like a pretty good idea. I thought I've heard of people using large piles of soil before. I tried that but she didn't seem interested. Plant matter such as hay sounds like a better idea since she seemed to use leaf litter, twigs and other plant matter she was able to find this year.

"I like the plant matter in the hole, it seems to be, I would stack a huge pile of it in there."

Yea, I think I would have been more successful if I had provided these materials early enough so she could have prepared her nest before she was ready to lay.

"When trying to solve problems, keep it simple and conquer one thing at a time, not mess the whole thing up, thinking your helping. Heck you got this far, how bad is that?"

Not too bad. I'm actually quite pleased that I may be able to hatch some out this year but I'll definitely try to improve my results for next year by focusing on her nesting site. I think for next year I'll just try to provide her with the means to build her own nest instead of trying to guess what she'd like.

Thanks for your input!
Chris