Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 1.2 trio of Madrean Alligator lizards and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on breeding them. I have never tried breeding them before and would appreciate any suggestions. I am specifically wondering about brumation temps and incubation temps. I am also interested in whether or not I should keep the sexes seperate and then introduce them to breed or if it is ok to house them all together. Also, what temps do most people keep theirs at?
Thanks in advance,

Ian

I've bred my pair for two years running. I keep their tank next to a window that I usually leave open and that does not recieve direct sun. I don't use supplemental lighting or heading. In the summer daytime temperatures usually get up into the mid to high 70's with occaiasional 80's. In the winter temperatures drop into the mid to low 60's at night. Because they're by the window, they get a fairly natural photoperiod.

I house my pair together year round. Whem I've observed breeding, it's been in the late summer (around the end of August), but eggs are laid towards the end of the following May. I try to spray them and overfill the waterbowls in July and August to simulate the monsoons.

I house my pair in a 10 gallon on reptibark. There are several flat slabs of cork bark they can hide under, a water dish and a moist hide. For the moist hide, I melt a hole midway up the size of a black index card box and fill it with moist bed-a-beast.

I feed crickets almost exclusively (mealworms, waxworms, superworms etc. lead to obesity if fed in any quantity). I dust with rep-cal with vitamin D3 at every feeding. This supplementation is critical to prevent metabolic bone disease. Crickets are gutloaded on fish flakes, orange slices and carrots. I feed ~3-4 times a week during the spring summer and early fall and then scale back to ~1-2 times a week when the temperature drops.

My female has always laid eggs in the index card box. Her first season she laid 8 and one dud and I had 7 hatch successfully after ~2 months of incubation at room temperature (low 70's). This year she laid 14 and I had 11 successful hatches. The eggs that didn't hatch had full term babies, some of whom had tried to pip. Next year if I see signs of pipping and the baby isn't out in an hour, I'll assist.

I remove the eggs for incubation and place them in a deli cup with moist, but not wet, vermiculite. I usually go by feel and stop adding water when it feels damp and water comes out when you squeeze one of the granuals. It's and ~1:1 ration of vermiculit to water by weight.

2007's babies ended up consisting of 6 males and 1 possible female. This year's also look like they're going to mostly males. I kept 4 of my 07's and have the possible pair set up identically to the parents and I'm hoping that they'll produce next year. If the 08's end up being almost all male, I'm going to try to play with the incubation temperatures.

I'd really like to diversify my breeding group, so if you have luck producing babies and want to swap bloodlines shoot me an email: aliceinwl@hotmail.com

Hope this helps,
Alice

Hey Alice! Hello! Been a long time. My neighbors keep dumping alligator lizards over the fence into my yard 'cuz they know I like lizards! And the hatchlings keep coming in the house!! Do you think I could get busted for being over the limit???LMAO
BTW, how are Gracie and Rigel? Rigel has some a new cousin named Gigabyte. Really beautiful!!

How about posting some pics of your trio?