Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Two little amazing babies. My first reptile eggs ever. So new!

How long do I wait to feed them?
Do they need a basking light already or just ambient temps (83-85)?
Will the parents kill them if i put them in with them?

Any and all advice much appreciated!

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Lisa Rakestraw
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My skinks:
1.1.0 Corucia zebrata (Berman and Joni)
2.3.3 Egernia striolata
2.2.0 Eumeces schneideri (Jack and Mabel; Kaa and Cochisa)

Hubby's snakes of the Southwest:
0.1 Lichanura orcutti (Rosie)
0.1 Lampropeltis pyromelana (Little Red)
0.1 Pituophis catenifer (Jennifer)
2.0 Bogertophis subocularis (Humphrey and Oliver)
0.1 Lampropeltis alterna (Sandy)

Congrats on the eggs hatching! The babies are so cute.
Nice to see that people have success with these guys. I just got a pair recently, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of information out there for these guys.
Currently they are in a 20L(place I got them from said that was fine), but I just bought a 40B tank yesterday. Once I make space for it, I'll switch them in there.

Hi, not sure why i missed your message!

Your decision to upgrade the tank seems wise. Especially if you are thinking about breeding them. You are right that there is little info on them. That's because they are so cheaply imported. I'm amazed that they can still find them in the wild since they are so heavily imported and cheap. They have a wide natural range, throughout the middle-east and north Africa.

Tips for breeding... winter cooling at least 8 weeks with no lights... as you start to bring them out, simulate some good rainstorms with some heavy misting... healthy diet with variety and feed often as they will eat...snails are relished and provide calcium, offer *finely* minced greens with fruit at least once a week, in addition to store-bought feeder insects if you can supplement with wild-caught insects (such as roaches and grasshoppers and grubs) it will benefit them immensely... just pamper them to no end...spray *lightly* often but make sure it dries out completely in between...if you pamper them you might have luck...keep in mind that if your skinks were kept in sub-optimum conditions prior to you getting them that it could take a couple of years for them to recover to optimum health...also they may only breed once every three years anyway... just be patient and keep up the pampering.

I will post some updated pics shortly. So so glad there are others who love these guys too!
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Lisa Rakestraw
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My skinks:
1.1.1 Corucia zebrata (Berman and Joni, baby Charlemagne)
2.2.2 Eumeces schneideri (Jack and Mabel; Kaa and Cochisa their babies)
0.0.4 Egernia striolata

Hubby's snakes:
1.0 Bogertophis subocularis (Humphrey)
0.1 Lampropeltis alterna (Sandy)

Yeah, I'm definitely glad I upgraded them to the 40B! Silly enough, they still seem to enjoy getting out every other day. The male is a bit more friendly, the female seems kinda shy/cautious.

Thanks so much for the tips! For the cooling, is that something akin to what some tortoise keepers do and put them in a tub and a dark place? Or, do they still need to eat and such?
I breed roaches and buy crickets occasionally, and they seem to enjoy both.
Alright, so looks like a waiting game then, haha.

Does your female use a laybox or just lays in the sand?

Can't wait to see some updated pics C:

Lisa,

This is Nate from Tucson, I talked to you at length at Reptile Specialist's. Not sure if you remember me but I just wanted to say congrats on the breeding. It's fun to have sucess with seldom bred animals. Keep up the good work.

Thanks Nate! Yes I remember you well! I always remember your words about having a cage that covers all your bases (part that's warmer and wetter than you think it should be and part that's cooler and drier than you think it should be).
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Lisa Rakestraw
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My skinks:
1.1.1 Corucia zebrata (Berman and Joni, baby Charlemagne)
2.2.2 Eumeces schneideri (Jack and Mabel; Kaa and Cochisa their babies)
0.0.4 Egernia striolata

Hubby's snake:
0.1 Lampropeltis alterna (Sandy)

Yes, especially when working with unknowns, I do think offering as many variables(choices) as possible and removing those that the animals don't use is the way to go. They know what to do we just need to allow them the tools to do it. Not sure what you did with these guys but it worked . I hope you have repeated success with them. Any chance of a cage pic? How are the babies doing?

I will try to take some pictures of the cages soon. The babies are doing really well. They even overwintered their first winter! I just followed their cues... they didn't come out to bask at all even when the light was on and I knew that they had eaten a lot of crickets in the months leading up. Then I started turning their lights on around the same time as I turned on the parents'. They are growing well. Even though they have a UV light I think I should have been giving them D3 along with their calcium because I see a couple of tiny kinks in their tails. The parents have kinks too, which I think is because they came from the wild and their UV exposure was drastically reduced after capture. I think the babies didn't absorb as much UV as they would have because they are born terrified and hide all the time. Only now are they starting to let me hold them, and are still a little flighty. Have corrected the D3 situation and am hoping that it will prevent any further kinking in the tails.

My other pair that I bought from the Herp Fair mated this year and I am anxiously awaiting eggs any day now. This pair I have had for about three years now. The first winter I almost lost the male because he wasn't bulked up enough to go without food and just lost weight rapidly, so I brought up the temps and got some weight back on him. Then the second winter he overwintered okay, but they didn't mate. Then last winter I followed his cues and he pretty much didn't overwinter at all... I kept the basking light on a low wattage and fed him less but he pretty much stayed awake and fed (albeit less) all winter, except for maybe a week or two, while the female stayed dormant. I was really surprised when I saw them mating because the lady before me had them for a couple of years and never saw them mate, although she kept them outside, which I think is sub-optimum for this species because they come from Mediterranean desert which is opposite climate of our kind of desert.
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Lisa Rakestraw
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My skinks:
1.1.1 Corucia zebrata (Berman and Joni, baby Charlemagne)
2.2.2 Eumeces schneideri (Jack and Mabel; Kaa and Cochisa their babies)
0.0.4 Egernia striolata

Hubby's snake:
0.1 Lampropeltis alterna (Sandy)

Here are a few pics showing cage set-up...

This one is of the couple that produced two dud eggs this year. I've had this couple since the Reptile Show in 2007. This year was their first time breeding. This is about half of the cage. The other half has mostly sand and their exercise wheel.

The next two are of the enclosure containing the couple that produced the two babies. I got the female at your old store in late summer of 2009 and she bred in 2010. The first one is a close-up of the rocks that are under the basking light. Both enclosures are vision cages, about 4 ft long, by 2 ft deep. The cage shown below is about twice the height of the other Vision.

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Lisa Rakestraw
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My skinks:
1.1.1 Corucia zebrata (Berman and Joni, baby Charlemagne)
2.2.2 Eumeces schneideri (Jack and Mabel; Kaa and Cochisa their babies)
0.0.4 Egernia striolata

Oh, and I was wondering if you had updated pics of the babies?

Here are a couple of pictures of one of the babies when they were around 10 months old.

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Lisa Rakestraw
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My skinks:
1.1.1 Corucia zebrata (Berman and Joni, baby Charlemagne)
2.2.2 Eumeces schneideri (Jack and Mabel; Kaa and Cochisa their babies)
0.0.4 Egernia striolata

Oh my. They are too adorable! X)