Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,

The last time i posted i had a lot of great responses so I thought i would give everyone a bit of an update on my chuckie pair.....

They took to each other very easilly and life has been quite interesting in the viv. I have been scratching my head for the last month or so to try and work out if my female(alabama) is gravid or not but i have been convincing myself that it has just been wishful thinking up until yesterday when she has started digging in various areas of the viv. My homework has led me to believe that this might be her testing different sites to lay her eggs because she has never been an avid "digger" before now.

I have followed the instructions on

http://www.freewebs.com/johelian/careresources.htm#150804461

(taken from this very forum!) to the letter but as an emergency measure i have used very well washed sand from the beach beside my house-is this a bad idea with any salt possibly dessicating the newly laid eggs? I am going to get myself some kids playsand tomorrow just in case.

I am concerned that if I can't provide the right situation for her to lay that i am putting her at risk-does anyone have any advice? The substrate is currently newspaper to keep the viv as hygenic as poss with various refugia/logs etc until my fake rock wall is finally complete.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to read my post-wish me luck

Kind regards,

Ben

I would definitely replace the beach sand with play sand as soon as possible. I remember reading something bad about beach sand at one point. I can't remember exactly what it was, maybe the bacterial content is high, but the salt can't be good either.
We always use play sand.
Good luck.
Nick

Thanks Ndokai for your response,

I have literally just sat down after replacing the sand-the more i thought about it the more ridiculous an idea it was. Strangely, what was the deciding factor is that my female chuck was actively tasting the sand a few times but definitely seemed to turn her nose up at it and left it alone after that. As always the animals themselves know best! I will keep posting updates to let you know how we get on.

Thanks again,

Ben