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Varanus prasinus breeding failure report

basinboa Mar 12, 2012 05:16 PM

Gestation time: 50 days, counted from first copulation.
Clutch size: 6 eggs, 2 made it to the end, yielding full term dead babies (186 days).
Incubation method: SIM container, 29C (84.2F)

Final score: a broken heart.

Looking to achieve a lower gestation lenght. I have some eggs incubating that were laid with 40 days.




Replies (7)

varinus Mar 12, 2012 07:51 PM

Can you post pic of your enclosure ? Any details to you nesting ,temps etc ?

basinboa Mar 13, 2012 04:41 AM

The incubation info you ask for is in the first post.

Here's the cage:

Here's the nestbox (as you see, it has a glass but it has a door over it, which was opened in the picture):

These were the eggs around 90 days:

One of them failed just over 100 days. The other 2 went all the way to 180:

Paradon Mar 13, 2012 05:03 AM

Oh, man! Sorry to hear that!

varinus Mar 13, 2012 09:52 AM

I would try changing the nesting substrate maybe its just not right for her and could be reason she holds them for so long. I see you got 3 locations at different temp zones which is good. My thoughts would be either leave those nests and add a second right next to each with different nesting substrates and she what she chooses and add deep substrate to the bottom as well.I would also use hollow tube that gets narrow towards the bottom hanging vert with little substrate in it also. Whole cage nesting is what my goal would be.

Did the 2 full term eggs pip ? indent when they got close? was wondering if it could be something else to cause them not to hatch other than being weak.From pic i didnt see a egg tooth.Also the egg shell looks thick maybe its me do you supplement the diet for the female and provide UVB ? Maybe slit egg when its close like python guys do to help them emerge with better results.

Good luck on this next clutch 40 days is little better i think you will have better results from this clutch maybe a low percent will hatch.

varinus Mar 13, 2012 10:11 AM

My other thought is do you remove the male after you see them mating or move the female in a nest cage alone ? In the past i too used nest boxs and during non mating time the male also used them for hides and maybe the female wants a nest without the sent of the male as they can eat the eggs.

basinboa Mar 13, 2012 04:23 PM

Yes Im going to change the nest substrate.

I was looking at the pictures and it seemed to have an egg tooth.

They do have UVB and calcium some 3X a week. Im going to lower it.

SlidellReptileRescue Mar 27, 2012 06:18 PM

One question....Is the primary diet rodents? If so, you're experiencing the same thing I did for the first four years I kept tree monitors. The calcium intake by the females translates to very thick eggs and the hatchlings in my experience have not been able to pip and ultimately end up drowning in the egg.

I solved this problem by switching over to 90% insect diet and rodents once every other month and when offered I only gave them crawlers or fuzzies (never adults). After approximately one year on that diet I continued to get viable eggs that ended up hatching. Albeit the hatching rate wasnt 100% (more like 50%) it was certainly better than the results of feeding rodents. Also, I wouldnt recommend using any calcium supplements either.

I also offered multiple nesting sites and ultimately settled on one at ground level using a thermostat and heat-tape to maintain temps. The Green Tree monitors used them regularly but one main difference I observed was my Black Tree females would display severe nest-aggression for approximately 1-2 days just prior to laying. If you witness this behavior I'd separate them and allow the female the peace and quiet to lay her eggs. That, along with decreasing calcium intake may prove helpful for you as it did for me....

Mike Steffani put out an article what seems like forever ago and it was very helpful for me and I chose to use some of what he noted and disregarded other comments. He had some success as well so I'm guessing that a little adjustment and you'll have a good bit of success. You've already learned that getting eggs is easy and hatching them is an entirely different story.

I'll dig up some archived photos and post them....

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