Sandy Laid Again - Pic Heavy

[Germ]

On March 18th sandy laid some infertile eggs for the first time in her 7 years. Yesterday she started digging around and continued this morning. On the outside chance that she may be wanting to lay again, I set up her enclosure so she could, nosed her into the tunnel & she started digging again. About 30 minutes later I noticed that she had turned around already.

I am going to Bombard you all with pics taken throughout the day.

Sandy laying ...

All done just coming out of her laying tunnel, looking considerably thinner ...

"Hmmm, Did I bury those eggs properly?"

"Better go check"

After a little bit of 'Head Shoveling' (Now I know why a BDs head is somewhat shaped like a spade), Backing out ...

So I put her in the tub for a warm bath to clean her up, in the meantime I go to dig out the eggs & toss them, then put the enclosure back in order. As I'm going to toss them (To my knowledge None of my dragons had ever been bred) I figured I would test out the Egg Candler that I made for the heck of it, while I had the opportunity. To my surprise there was a red spot inside the egg, upon checking another, the same, another, the same, all of them similar. Which should indicate life & the eggs being fertile. A little later in the day I got speaking with my daughter, she had been 'Critter Sitting' last month & had given them a warm soak then let them run around the apartment for a while. She did mention that Demon & Sandy were 'Rough Housing' as she put it, just prior to being put back into their enclosures & Demon appeared mad, black bearding etc. So there is the possibility that they did breed. Now I'm rambling ... Back to the pics.

Sandy all cleaned up & having some Nom-Noms ...

Now back to the eggs, do I freeze them, or do I wait for a while to see if they are actually fertile? Decisions, decisions ... So I chose to wait. Threw together an incubator out of things I had around the house. She laid 31 eggs, 12 or so didn't look good at all, 2 maybes, the rest reasonably good healthy looking eggs. This is what I came up with.

The eggs in my homemade incubator ...

Covered ...

Closed up ...

See how they look after a couple of weeks, anyway that was Sandy & my day.

 

[Aleena]

I LOVE IT!!!! Yay! Sandy's a mummy! I absolutely adore that close up pic of her sticking her head out of the burrow

 

[Wellovelizards]

She looks great good luck

 

[mama]

LOL....rough housing Good thing you checked.

 

[ThDude]

Wow, so you may have some little guys running around soon. If she did mate can't she lay eggs for up to two years now that are fertal?

 

[Aleena]

Wow, so you may have some little guys running around soon. If she did mate can't she lay eggs for up to two years now that are fertal?

I've heard 6 months. Mostly, for that laying season they can continue to spit out eggs.

 

[ThDude]

I've heard 6 months. Mostly, for that laying season they can continue to spit out eggs.

I read somewhere that after mating they can hold the sperm for a long time. I don't remember where I read this

 

[Aleena]

I read somewhere that after mating they can hold the sperm for a long time. I don't remember where I read this

I read in a beardie care book that it's 6 months, but who knows. Half the information we have is misinformation anyway.

 

[Germ]

I haven't really run across any specific time limit, but then, Breeding hasn't been my thing. What I have understood, is that they may or may not multiple clutch. Some will some won't. I remember reading an article from Robin Moniz, when Exclusive Dragons Care Info Library was still up & running, saying that the most she has experienced was 6 & the most she had heard of, believably, from a reputable source, was 9 clutches from a single coupling. I believe it is one of those things that vary from Dragon to Dragon & time is the only answer.

 

[Germ]

The temps in the makeshift incubator has been holding extremely well, i turned up the submersible heater a touch before going to sleep last night, placed the temp probe in one of the containers. When I got up, the temp was a comfy 84.3F, the eggs looking very good, the 2 'maybes', plumping up nicely. We'll see how it goes.

 

[Aleena]

The temps in the makeshift incubator has been holding extremely well, i turned up the submersible heater a touch before going to sleep last night, placed the temp probe in one of the containers. When I got up, the temp was a comfy 84.3F, the eggs looking very good, the 2 'maybes', plumping up nicely. We'll see how it goes.

Awesome! Hope those ones hold out.

 

[Germ]

This would be Daddy (Demonicus - aka Demon)​

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As Baby (6 Weeks)​

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Now​

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He really disliked handling for the first 10 months of his life, then finally settled in.​

 

[Aleena]

Demon is definitely a looker, you're going to have some pretty babies.

 

[Germ]

Ohhhh Soooo Happy!!! After the initial shock of possibly having fertile eggs, I have come to terms with the reality of the situation.

Tonight I couldn't hold back any longer, my intention was to wait until mid week, then candle one of the eggs, again, to see if there has been any progress. The incubator setup has been fantastic at keeping the temps at a constant 84.5, give or take a few points. When I opened the bins containing the eggs, I could not believe how much they have increased in size already & how good they looked other than the 2 'Maybes' that I wasn't holding much hope for anyway, which I froze & will flush in the morning, leaving me with 19 reasonable to really good looking eggs. So, as I said, I couldn't resist candling one of them. They are definitely good Fertile eggs, the veining was very apparent & abundant, previously had just been a red spot.

Thank goodness that I have a thriving roach colony to help take care of that part of the expense. During the next 6-8 weeks will get a stable rack setup inside the makeshift incubator, so they are not diving into the water upon hatching. Rearrange some areas of my 'Critter Room', put a rack together & start picking up tubs, get lighting setup, etc. Already getting so excited, as this is a first for me.

 

[Pat B]

Oh I hope that Spike doesn't turn out to be a Spikette!! Don't want babies in my house but I do think he is a boy!!

 

[Germ]

If he did turn out to be a 'Spikette', if she never had contact with a male you would have nothing to worry about, other than possible periodic infertile eggs being laid. My case was quite unplanned. In a case such as mine, any keeper has the choice, if they do happen to be in a situation with fertile eggs, of not incubating the eggs, immediately freezing them, then disposing them. Which is the better choice if the keeper does not have the room, time, resources, knowledge &\or desire to take on the responsibility.

 

[Aleena]

Good, good. Now if you can only make yourself leave them alone for the rest of the time. I was checking mine too often probably . That's part of their downfall I'm guessing. Now that the leatherback eggs are looking like they're about ready to pop I'm checking them daily to make sure to take the lid off when there's babies in there, but I've mostly only checked on them weekly, and I haven't candled them since the beginning. I'm being a very good girl this time.

 

[Germ]

Yup, I can kind of see the eggs enough to see if any are shriveling. Since I put them in, I have been checking 2-3 days apart to see about the humidity & such, make sure that condensation isn't building up enough to be dripping on the eggs. Now that I am reasonably sure of them, I will only be checking when needed.

I agree that may have been part of the poor survival rate of yours along with you didn't have the bins covered. It is all a learning process.

Looking forward to this clutch of yours hatching.

 

[Germ]

So was the Male also Leatherback? I can't remember ...

 

[ThDude]

What will you do with the babies germ? Planning on giving them away, selling them? Or keeping them?