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Buried One Week -- Easter Eggs!

5Ancestors Apr 09, 2007 01:48 PM

It turns out my WC MHD was gravid. Yes! This is a first for me. I just got her in January.

I returned home Saturday from a long vacation to find that she had filled in the large hole she’d dug just before I left. I found seven eggs yesterday.

Based on what I saw and what my "dragon sitter" saw, these eggs were buried at least seven days beneath five inches of damp sand. They could have been down there ten days.

Six of the eggs were buried in a group. The single egg at the bottom of the photo was buried a couple inches higher than the rest, and at least two inches off to one side. I sifted through the entire vivarium with my hands, and didn’t find any more eggs.

The single egg at the bottom looks like it might be a dud. The center and right-most eggs in the top row might be duds, too. Any thoughts?

Hopefully, the babies will have horns on the sides of their heads and long snouts, just like Mama.

(Jobi, I still hope to get a decent photo of her entire body to email to you for help with identification. I hope your offer to help still stands. Your posts are amazing!)

Wish me luck! -Jeff

Replies (8)

jobi Apr 10, 2007 10:40 AM

You never know?
These eggs look dead 2 months ago, yet they will hatch any day now.

Have you palpated your female to see if she retained any eggs?

I have never been successful using sand as incubation medium, you may want to try perlight, its much more stable.

Best of luck

Rgds

5Ancestors Apr 10, 2007 12:32 PM

Thanks for the feedback, Jobi. I didn't think to palpitate. My dragon looks quite "empty," but I'll give it a shot. I'll keep incubating the brown eggs, too.

The eggs in the photo are on vermiculite. All the perlite I've found is mixed with fertilizer. I'll keep looking, though.

Thanks for including the photo. It reminded me about one of your previous posts mentioning mold. I'll remember to not get too concerned when I see mold. (I'm following your "recipe" that includes 100 percent hydration.)

Thanks, again. -Jeff

jobi Apr 10, 2007 04:46 PM

Don’t confuse algae with mould.
Algae start appearing late into incubation, only because I use a light bulb as a heat source and clear containers.
Mould is no good, when an egg starts moulding I take it out pronto, this mean the egg is week and has no defence to bacteria.
Be advise 100% breeders will advise you to incubate eggs in the dark.
Rgds

5Ancestors Apr 10, 2007 08:22 PM

How long before your book comes together, Jobi? It will be fantastic having all your advice in one big package. Thanks for sharing so much beforehand, and doing it for free. I'm a full-time author (fiction/Random House), and appreciate the value of intellectual property. Count me in for a copy of your book.

I checked my eggs earlier today and two of the three questionable ones already had mold growing on them and were beginning to smell. I tossed them out. The others look great.

My incubator has a clear plastic window in the lid. I covered it. I never would have thought to do that without your tip. Thank you. -Jeff

jobi Apr 10, 2007 10:15 PM

I really don’t know?
At this point I have bred all the species I am interested inn, I have not bred second generation of all yet, however I am raising some as breeders. Gonocephalus liogaster is giving me a hard time, I was able to get some gonocephalus Sophia again and now incubating eggs. This will allow me to photograph 8 species full cycle, from egg to egg.
This will be the value of my work and why I don’t post photos.

I will not discus about anything related to biology or ecology, my experience is based solely on captive husbandry, and only the most recent information will be offered.
Basically this book will be all about photos and little text.

I need to find a publisher that will not pollute my work with publicity products.

In the past I did a similar work with varanids, unfortunately I realise these lizards aren’t good candidate for captivity, plus they are CITES animals. These agamid are much better suited as captives, and most peoples can house them correctly.

Rgds

5Ancestors Apr 11, 2007 09:37 AM

Sounds like your best bet might be a university publisher. Or perhaps you'll have to self-publish. Either way, distribution will be the biggest hurdle (as is the case with all books). I'm guessing you already know these things.

Have you considered on-line publishing? You could assemble all your information and photos into a web site and charge visitors a fee for password access. I know at least one site for insects that does this. They charge a one-time fee of USD$10 via PayPal. After they receive payment, they email you a password. It works great, especially since the audience is quite limited. I'm sure you could easily charge more. Instant access around the globe. Plus, you could do it yourself in your many languages. That would be impressive.

The best part about a "living" document on the Internet is that you can constantly update it. Your site could become a one-stop-shop for the latest husbandry information. You could sell your surplus lizards there, too.

Good luck! -Jeff

Amazonreptile Apr 11, 2007 01:09 PM

>>Basically this book will be all about photos and little text.
>>
>>I need to find a publisher that will not pollute my work with publicity products.

Lulu Press will be your best bet for a book of the volume this will produce. No publisher will want to publish a picture book with small volume sales. lulu will!

Best of luck. I hope to buy a copy myself!
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Just_Ders Apr 15, 2007 06:12 PM

looks like a vietnamese mountain horned lizard

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