Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, I finally took those pics of my armata that I have been promising for some time now. Since Jobi wanted some pics of the capra I though it was a good time to get the rest of the group documented while I was at it.

I commented the other day that since I added the heat source they are all looking so much prettier. Well, here is the proof. These animals were pretty dark except when stressed before but now this is what I see every time I open their viv!

This is the dominant female, she is the least colorful but is still a very pretty reddish brown. I think she is still very pretty and her scales are like jewels.

This is the second most dominant female. She is my favorite as far as colors go. I don’t even know what color would describe her. She sometimes looks almost blue-gray, others she looks sort of bluish-green. Her webbing is definitely in the reddish-brown tones. Very striking!

This is the shyest female. She hides most of the time and this was one of the rare occasions where she was out front and center. This is what the male used to look like without the heat source. She used to look brown.

And last, but not by any means least, here is the male. He has really blossomed since I added the light bulb. His color is always fluorescent and bright! He also has quite the temper. I only have to get within 5-6 inches of him and he lunges and hisses. He actually jumped at me while I was taking the photos! ; )

So, that’s the 4 largest armata. The other 3 are still a bit illusive and hard to find. I’m hoping they respond soon as I have added the bulb to their viv as well.

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Marcia - FroggieB Dragons
www.froggieb.com/MHDHome.html

Hello Marcia

You have amazing armata's! Very nice and in good condition.

I have reasons to believe armata will nest in the 80f-84f range, if these temps are not available they will hold on past due time, this resulting in unfertile, week or dead embryo. Nesting options are so important, I just can’t talk enough about it.

Nesting conditions along with minerals intake determines how many and how often they nest, I have observed some lizards nesting so regularly that you could no longer tell if they where gravid or not, this means that the conditions are right and the female use the resource only for her eggs, no fat accumulation and no egg holding, the results are faster and stronger growing eggs.
rgds

Hey my armata nested this morning 11 good eggs, she hade temperature options from 75f to 88f she nested at 82f, this is about what I expected.

I will incubate them at 84f DTH and 78f NTL

From copulation to nesting 38 days, pregnancy was barley noticeable except for the last 2 weeks. As with all my dragons nesting was archived on the first attempt ( I consider this very important) she nested under the light bulb about 8 inches to the side, after nesting she basked right under the bulb and was extremely defensive of her eggs, when I took the eggs out she charged the male as if he was responsible?

Few hours later she’s back on top guarding an empty nest.

Great news! I modified my viv a bit the last couple of days. I had a great piece of fiberglass with rock sculped on it that was about 18" wide. I had my hubby cut it down the center so I have 2 rock walls about 30" long and 9" tall now.

I put this diagonally in one corner of my armata viv and filled in with substrate behind this. Now instead of having to fill the whole viv 6-8" deep I have about 3-4" in the main area and then the rock wall which will be easy for them to climb with about 8" of soil behind it. It makes for a pretty large area. I know they were climbing as I found feces on the high ground this morning and I only put this in last night!

Then this morning I lowered the bulb so that it is above a lower section of the vines and branches and closer to the substrate on the high side. I haven't taken any temperature readings yet but figure none of my girls are that close to laying yet if they are gravid. Of course I have had other dragons take me by surprise!

Anyway, I appreciate you sharing your temps as this gives me something to play with. I would really like to see these reproduce!

By the way, now I'll be waiting to see pics of the baby armata!
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Marcia - FroggieB Dragons
www.froggieb.com/MHDHome.html

I sent you a document.

>>I sent you a document.
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Marcia - FroggieB Dragons
www.froggieb.com/MHDHome.html

Great information. I am thinking I need to make modifications to my set ups for other reasons and I will factor these temp needs into play. Any ideas on 82F day temps and 74F night temps for the actual cage? I can do this fairly easily if it will be helpful.

Shane I offer my lizards options, they can bask at 130f if they need to, its available.

My minimum is 75f at present, this is at night when all lights ar off, in the day my lowest temps may be 78f-82f with gradiant options up to 130f, they do not use it often but when they need it they use it.

In nature sometime they have lower temps low 50s and much higher temps 170f on some basking surfaces, 130-140f is a common high temp on a sunny day, temperatures of 85-90f in the shades are unavoidable to them most of the year, yet we offer them temps in the 70s, why???

The terrible thing about such low temps is the proliferation of intestinal parasites, these parasites are very important to our lizards, they regulate the imiun system, help fight bacterial infections, help in triggering different hormones witch in turns perform other functions.