Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Our female Baja showing some colors! gravid colors that is!

She is truly a beautiful lizard! I don't know too much about the Baja rock lizards. It seems that they are very rarely available in the pet trade. I used to see them offered for sale several years ago but hardly at all anymore. Are their husbandry requirements similar to collareds? Easy or difficult to breed? Truly a gorgeous specimen.

Nice to see some gravid colors this early in the season.
A few of my females are just now displaying the mustard
yellow color. Hopefully they will brighten up like yours
soon.

BTW, how is your blistered male doing? Haven't heard
back from you about him so I'm assuming that no news
is good news. Hope he's doing ok. I would be interested
in knowing what the vet found out about what may have
caused the bumps as well as what meds or ointments he
may have used on him.

John

Well, we took off his little "sling" on Tuesday, his bone healed, so thats good. His blister issue seems to be on and off. I was told to give him oral baytril twice daily, and aswell diluted betadine solution applied to his skin. Some days it looks really cleaned up, and other days it looks like its coming back. The vet recommend that we give him 4 weeks with the same treatment, and to still keep him in a sterile enclosure. She figured that the sling, and the stress of having the sling might have affected his immune system. So now I'm just trying to leave him alone as much as possible besides treating him. I'm hoping he'll shed off the blisters soon.

Good deal on the splint removal. This has to allow him
more movement while reducing any added stress.

The bedadine/water solution is a great cleanser. The baytril
will do it's job from the inside-out. Also, he doesn't need the
sting of IM injections at this time so oral doses would also
be less stressful on him.

Looks like your vet is right on target. Sounds like he's in
good hands and should recover in due time.

Good job and congrats on the gravid female.

John

Thanks John, alot the success I've had with these guys has been due to your advice and husbandry techniques (like your turkey salad). I'm not sure if you recall, but I've emailed in the past two years from time to time, with general questions. I took alot of what your said,and what you've experienced and applied to our group, and I thank you for sharing that information with me. Not alot of info is out there on these guys, and if it is its pretty much in German, or a foreign language. (luckily i have friends that can translate most papers)

I hope the male does do a complete 360 on the whole blister situation. But only time will tell. On a different note.. I wanted to ask you John, how long does it take for a female Baja to reach adult hood? I have this little "female" (photo below), and I'm just wondering if i'm right about its sex or way off.
And do you have any pics of a adult male baja black rock lizard in breeding colors?

I believe the Petrosaurus you show is not a thalassinus but
a P repens. Sexing methods should be similar to the baja
blue rocks. The easiest/quickest way is to check for post
anal enlarged scales. If they are there, she is most likely
a he.

I don't have a good photo of an adult baha black rock male
that I can show but those I have are of photos my clients
have sent and don't really feel good about sharing them
without permission. Especially here on a public forum.

I do have some good news that's happened here in the last
few days though. Got to witness my first and second blue
rock breedings from two pairs. I posted a pic but was so
excited that I posted it to your original thread below lol.
Not my best shot as it was taken through plexiglass and also
in close proximity to the merc vapor basking lamp which
most always screws up pic color/quality.

John