I am looking for information about plated species in which the female guards her eggs after laying. I have a trio of zonosaura karsteni, and collected 4 fertile eggs out of their viv about a month and a half ago and I think there are now more eggs.

When I collected the eggs, they had been laid in the biggest cave where all three zonos stay, especially at night. They are in a large enclosure on organic garden soil, and they are outside where they get partial sun throughout the day. So the eggs had been laid in this large round cave, and they had been sort of pushed into the middle. The females had dug a trench around them where they had obviously been slithering around the eggs and along the cave wall.

Now one of them was probably gravid again. She was enormous and ate like there was no tomorrow for weeks. She then dug a long tunnel, but poked her head out for worms (they will take them off my tongs). The tunnel and opening have been maintained, so I am trying to determine if zono females guard their eggs. I can afford to leave the eggs for a bit as our weather is still very hot here, but if the eggs in the box take 2-3 months to hatch, then the eggs outside will probably have to come in when the weather turns.

Are there species of plated lizards that the females guard eggs? Any known Zono species that do this?

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