Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This story goes back through a lot of heart break for me. I purchased an adult pair of Rio Fuerte Beaded Lizards from Steve Angeli last year. I never caught them breeding but I did find that on 8/13/09 the female had layed 10 perfect eggs, the next day she layed 1 infertile one. I was so excited, this was the first time I had ever bred any reptile and received good eggs! During my first experience with eggs I managed to kill 9 out of 10 of the eggs. I used vermiculite at first. I had way to much air flow which caused my humidity to fluctuate allot. When the humidity dropped down I would add water and eventually I was way to wet! I didn't realize that the egg temp would be higher then what the incubator was set at so my temp was to high! I overnighted some Hatchrite, purchased a new rubbermaid from Walmart and set it back up in the incubator. After speaking to a number of my friends I had finally dialed everything in correctly. I must thank Steve Angeli, Greg Bryant, Ryan Gitman, Mark Lucas, among others that helped me through the incubation process. Without their help I would of never had been able to save the one egg that hatched today 2/21/10, 192 days later. I sold the pair of Beaded's that produced this animal. I just purchased a nice big group of 6 adult Rio Fuerte Beaded Lizards and a pair of Reticulated Gila Monsters. I love these lizards and I plan on keeping them for the rest of my life. The experience of hatching out a little ones was amazing! This is why I first got into reptiles, this is what it's all about! Please enjoy my pictures below:

Male:

Female:

10 fertile eggs:
[img width=900 height=675]http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/TheSerpentsCoil/CIMG3773.jpg[/img]

Candled egg:
[img width=900 height=675]http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/TheSerpentsCoil/egg.jpg[/img]

Finally 192 days later, my hatchling Rio Fuerte Beaded Lizard:

[img width=900 height=598]http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/TheSerpentsCoil/DSC_0960.jpg[/img]

[img width=900 height=598]http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/TheSerpentsCoil/DSC_0965.jpg[/img]

[img width=900 height=598]http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/TheSerpentsCoil/DSC_0996.jpg[/img]

[img width=900 height=598]http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/TheSerpentsCoil/DSC_1005.jpg[/img]

[img width=900 height=598]http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/TheSerpentsCoil/DSC_1049.jpg[/img]
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John Light

10 fertile eggs:
[img width=900 height=675]http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/TheSerpentsCoil/CIMG3773.jpg[/img]

Candled egg:
[img width=900 height=675]http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/TheSerpentsCoil/egg.jpg[/img]

Finally 192 days later, my hatchling Rio Fuerte Beaded Lizard:

[img width=900 height=598]http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/TheSerpentsCoil/DSC_0960.jpg[/img]

[img width=900 height=598]http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/TheSerpentsCoil/DSC_0965.jpg[/img]

[img width=900 height=598]http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/TheSerpentsCoil/DSC_0996.jpg[/img]

[img width=900 height=598]http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/TheSerpentsCoil/DSC_1005.jpg[/img]

[img width=900 height=598]http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/TheSerpentsCoil/DSC_1049.jpg[/img]
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John Light

10 fertile eggs:

Candled egg:

Finally 192 days later, my hatchling Rio Fuerte Beaded Lizard:

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John Light

Great job! Sweet baby kinda one of a kind huh... At least you succeeded in the end! It doesn't take much excess moisture to suffocate most herps embryos unfortunately.
I have'nt hatched any heloderms yet but I got a bunch of mature animals cycled this season. I've been experimenting hatching all sorts other herp eggs with the wet/dry tech the Dr explains in his book and I've probably incubated 30 or more species succefully but I'm still really nervous about it.

What temp was the ambient air/ egg temp please if you don't mind sharing. Interested to know how much they raised temps. Seen it before with bigger herp eggs so this is intriging to me and I wanna make certain I dont cook um. I know even chameleon eggs heat up some especially close together....wicked biology!
....Thanks

Mr. Angeli told me the optium egg temp was 82 degrees, I achieved this by setting my helix to 78 degrees. At first I had my incubator set to 82 degree's and my eggs temps would reach into the low 90's! The beadeds I just purchased have been cycled, I can confirm 2.2 by the pics, the other 2 appear to close to tell untill I get them all infront of me.

Does anyone know if one male will take multiple females in beadeds and gilas or is it usually a pair thing?
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John Light

Thanks thats exactly what I was wondering I bet they warmed up gradually as the embryos matured too but you'd kinda have to watch that to notice it...
Being colony sorta reptiles sorta, I bet a dominant male can mate a bunch of females but I hear male competition really helps with mating success in gilas n beadeds. I hear combat until exhaustion gets the dudes juices flowing.
I know with torts a lot of times an uninterested male will get crazy randy after he fights off a rival too...think humans even do to some extent well maybe I'm sorta a caveman! lol

Thanks again!

peace

Too bad you lost so many eggs but you scored with one nice baby.These are my new passion I just love them.
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Archie Bottoms