Baby Boom – Issue #7

It’s been nearly a week since our babies hatched.  I have kept a pretty close eye on them all told.  I feed them once or twice a day and have been very pleased to see any number of them avail themselves of a small cricket here and there.  It’s exciting to watch.  I have even had to start cleaning up poops which for me is another great sign.

I have been taking them out into the natural sunlight each day for 30 – 60 minutes wherever possible.  It’s been a nice conversation starter with the neighbours.  It has also given the baby dragons some vital natural UV exposure that is so important to their healthy development.  I have also added a third light fitting to the hood I have over their tubs to house a UVB bulb for them while they are inside.  Nothing like the real thing, but, still good for them.

I thought I would share a couple of photos from this afternoons sunbathing.  Every day they seem to be developing so quickly.  Today it was no time at all before nearly all of them had found a place in direct sunlight.  These photos are one of each tub and the dragons that hopped up onto the paving bricks for better access to the rays!

I am happy to report that at this stage, all are looking pretty healthy.  I am planning to hand them over to the reptile store at some stage next week.  I am sure it will be with mixed emotions, but, something we need to do.  I will be hanging on to one of them for a work colleague.  So at least we’ll have one in the house for a little while longer.

Baby Boom - Issue #6

So the day has finally come.  Our babies have started to emerge.  The dimpled egg was indeed a sign of a baby about to hatch.  At the moment we have 11 eggs that have had some action.  There is 1 baby completely out and about.  See the video below for some footage of him.  The other 10 eggs have little heads poking out of them.  That still leaves up to 14 more to go!  In all likelihood, only 13 of those at most will emerge due to the collapsed egg, but, what a clutch of little Dragons we will have if that does eventuate.

I have set up the hospital tank in readiness to house the babies for a while.  I would like the kids to have access to them to complete the whole experience.  Then I will most likely take them into Reptile's Inc. as we have no long term capability of housing them.  I have also had one work colleague show real interest in having one as a pet.  I said that was fine, so long as he had the right setup to house it correctly.  I have sent him all the information to get started and make sure that I hang on to at least one Dragon for a couple of weeks just in case.

For now, I will let the pictures do the talking.  Click on any of them to see them full sized.  Enjoy!

 

Baby Boom - Issue #5

So, we’re about 67 days into the incubation period.  On the plus side of things, we went on our holiday and the eggs didn’t hatch while we were away.  So if something does come of the clutch, our whole family will have the chance to be a part of it.  On the flip side of things, as you can see from the image of one of the containers with eggs in it, we are starting to see an issue with a couple of the eggs.

  As you can see from this image, a couple of the eggs have started to collapse.  The one third from the bottom on the left was like that when we picked it up from our neighbours upon our return.  The other, second from the bottom on the right started looking dimpled this morning, which is when I took this photo.  Subsequent to that, I took another look this evening and the egg bottom most right has also started showing signs of dimpling this evening.

I asked for advice from the good folks over at the Australian Bearded Dragon Forum for advice.  One very experienced breeder advised to just let them be.  There is no mould anywhere on them.  Even the one that has been like that for a couple of weeks has not gone ‘off’ as it were.  It most likely means that if there was a baby in there, it has now died.  But, there is still some chance that they will come through ok.  Time will tell.

On a different note, the day after we arrived home from our holiday, the kids and I raced up at opening time to pick up Lolly and Booster from their lodgings where they had been for the duration.  They were their usual blasé selves, but, we were very happy to see them indeed!

Both Dragons have settled back into the Den quite happily and it appears that they would barely have noticed a change.  Their condition is good and neither of them look to have lost weight or anything.  I can only praise the care offered by the staff at Reptiles Inc.  Our pets have arrived in every bit as good a condition as that which we left them in.

Back on the main topic of this post.  I have everything crossed in anticipation of the next week or so.  Still hoping that this container, and the other that shows no similar signs at all, will produce some healthy baby dragons!

New Vids

Well actually they are from a while ago.  But I hadn't got around to posting them up here for some reason.  I have put them up on the videos page of this blog and will put them here for now as well.

First one is of Lolly feeding using a fake rock feeder.  It is hollow and splits in two allowing me to put crickets inside.  It also allows me to put calcium and vitamin powders inside and coat the crickets by shaking the rock.  There is a small hole with a plug.  As you can see the crickets do come out into the light of their own accord.  Not the best move they will ever make....

Second one is of me hand feeding Booster.  It's funny, he has always been a very flighty critter to handle and really doesn't enjoy it at all.  However, he is happy enough to be hand fed.  So much so, he has latched hold of my finger a couple of times and left a mark or two in the process.  Both our Dragons have never lashed out to bite us.  Both have only ever nipped once or twice in the action of hand feeding.

If you are interested, there are a couple of other videos on the My Videos Page, including one of a very small Lolly being fed.  Amazing to see how she has grown!