The nesting biology of reptiles has been my main interest for several years now, having a pair cycle and reproduce is the acceptable minimum in modern husbandry, this is the easy part.



Egg incubation in itself is not obvious to many keepers, there still a lot of progress to be made in this field, even the latest documented research leaves room for improvement.



However the least understood part of herpetoculture is nesting, pro breeders have been turning in circles with this one for decades, playing with different types of media and all kinds of nest box, oddly they seemed to think box size or media type was the key to proper nesting, whoever my studies shows that any given specie can and do nest in many type of media, nesting is about egg survival, this is how females chose a nest site, proper choice of hydration and temperature are priority, type of media is chosen by its ability to drain or retain water, and by its antibacterial properties.



I guess we can say it very variable, a particular lizard c might as well nest in gravel, sand, dirt, leaf litter or even hollow tree where it will claw the interior and cover the eggs with saw dust, the choice of the alternative is mostly motivated by season and climate, obviously in flooded conditions tree nesting or drainable nesting will be favoured, while dry season nesting lizards will prefer more retaining media, however regardless of season one element that will no dough prevail over others is for eggs to reach optimum temperatures, a faster incubation allows grater chance at life, this females know very well.



So to make this short, a choice of higher temps is all you need for your lizards to nest in due time, the key hear is your understanding of heat, you see having a reflector and bulb 15in over the ground offers little choice, 4-5in will bake the ground deeper and create usable gradients, this is what your lizards need, but they need it before due date, after your faced with usual retention problems.



Rgds



Ps, I simply poor a jug of water when I feel the need for mores hydration, reptiles don’t need dampness, they need atmospheric humidity, think of them as newts with scales.

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