Wake Up Sleepy Heads!

I bit the bullet today and turned the lights on for Lolly and Beau.  Beau in particular had been somewhat restless for the last week or two.  Never waking up as such, but, changing positions in the enclosure frequently.  So yesterday, I did a quick check that I had everything I needed by way of food etc and cleaned up food dishes in preparation for the big day.

The big thing to be sure to do when reptiles first wake up from brumating is to get them hydrated.  I have rarely, maybe one or two times, seen Lolly drink from standing water.  The very first time was shortly after she laid her first ever clutch of eggs.  I gave her a bath that day and she took a long quenching drink.  Unlike Beau, she never took to drinking droplets from misting and I never saw her taking water from bowls in the enclosure.  Beau on the other hand likes to drink in all of those ways.

After about 30 minutes of exposure to heat, I used a spray bottle on a stream setting to drop water on their snouts.  Beau took to it straight away.  So I put him front feet deep in the big water dish (ceramic pot plant dish) you see in the first photo here.  He dropped his head in and did not emerge for a good five minutes or so.  I then turned my attention more directly on to Lolly with the water stream.  As soon as she made motions to drink, I put here into the dish as well.  To my pleasant surprise, she drank also.

Since the intake of water, both have lazed directly under the heat lamp for the remainder of the day.  Neither look to have touched the veggies I have provided.  I will get some large crickets for them tomorrow and see how their appetite is fairing then.

Lacey seems to be recovering well from her burn.  She is certainly eating well, which is a fantastic sign.  Snakes will go off their food first before anything else when they are upset.  Lacey is ploughing through her food, so I am hopeful, if not confident that she is well on the way to recovery.  She is shedding individual scales and has been for the last few weeks.  I plan to contact the vet again this week as she asked me to give an update on Lacey's progress.   At that time I will ask about the scales also.  She pooped the other day, which was a great relief (to both of us I am sure).  It had been the better part of two months in between.  Not too alarming during winter or a growth spurt.  But, given that she has eaten regularly and I have kept the temperatures up...Let's just say I am glad that she did it.

A little more on how the burn happened.  Warming a snake from below, as I do with a heat mat has to be done using a thermostat, for safety, so that the temperatures don't get too hot.  Where I ran into trouble was having the probe for the thermostat, which regulates the power to the heat mat a few centimetres above the basking point.  This meant it was measuring ambient temperatures rather than the contact temperature that was exposed to the snake.  This meant despite having all quality equipment, the temperatures on the surface above the heat mat that Lacey was lying on, were not regulated correctly and prone to being far too hot.

The second part of the issue comes in when we consider how snakes warm themselves.  In the wild, they will slither out onto a warm rock, probably just above the optimal temperature, knowing full well that when they block the sun onto that part of the rock, it's temperature will drop a little whilst the residual heat can be absorbed.  Add to that, they start warming from above via the heat from the sun, and they get a nice, full body warming.  I had no source of heat from above.  What this meant was that no matter how warm\hot\burning Lacey was from the poorly regulated heat mat from below, she was potentially shivering from the top down in the cool ambient temperatures of a Canberra winter.  The best image to have in your mind is an attempt to cook a roast in a frying pan.  The bottom could be burned to a crisp in the allotted cooking time, while the top half would still be red raw.

How do we fix this?  Well, now I have attached the thermostat probe directly to the bottom of the enclosure right where the heat source is and Lacey lies.  I have also added a heat source in the form of a halogen bulb above the enclosure, to raise the ambient and overhead temperatures.  It all seems to be going remarkably well.  The image here is what it looks like now.

I feel such a fool, that despite all the best intentions, research and questions I asked of experienced keepers, I managed to make one small oversight that injured our precious Lacey.  The lesson has be learned.  Just so unfortunately at Lacey's expense.  Happily, she should make a full recovery.

Eggciting Times Round 2!

Lolly laid her second clutch of the season this afternoon.  My beautiful wife rang me at work to let me know that she though Lolly might be in the throws of laying as she had dug herself a mighty hole in the laying box.  It turns out she was entirely correct.  I had been expecting Lolly to lay as early as last weekend as she had been giving off plenty of signs that she was getting close.  I guess no one can rush a mother or her babies and nature just has to take its course as it were.

You can see in the first photo, that by the time I came home from work, Lolly was just finishing up.  The egg you can see in the back left corner was the only thing giving away her nest site.  For some reason, she left that one on the surface.  The rest were well and truly buried at the bottom.  I was able to see the technique she used to compact the sand to settle and maybe disguise the site.  It was fascinating to see her using her head to bash the sand down and the force with which this was done.  Given the location of the egg you can see on top (ie directly on top of the nest site), I moved it to the far corner of the lay box to protect it.

In this next photo, you can see the clutch itself.  I retrieved 24 eggs this time.  Unfortunately there were 7 other eggs that were either infertile, referred to as slugs, or that had been crushed.  With a total of 31 eggs, this was Lolly's largest clutch.  I wonder if that is why there were infertile eggs. In the case of what look to be the viable eggs, there is the general appearance of them being longer and flatter than her previous clutches.  I am hoping that it is just that prior to laying that things were just a little squishy in there.  They might round out a bit now that they are out and about as it were.

The final picture you can see here is the proud Mum to be, literally basking in the afterglow of her big effort of the afternoon.  At this point she had relaxed in a nice warm bath and had actually coloured up very nicely.  This photo doesn't do the yellow colouration she had on display justice.  She is a beautiful dragon and I am really hopeful that her genetics combined with Beau's will produce some excellent offspring.

For now, she has time to recover and I will be pumping her full of good tucker to help her recover and fatten up.  Chances are she will lay once or twice more this season.  I have promised her the year off next year.  I think she has well and truly earned it!

Eggciting Times!

Bad pun I know, but, today really saw the breeding season kick in for us with Lolly laying what I hope will be the first of a few clutches of eggs for the season.  I've known that she has been gravid for a while and as you can see from the first picture here, that was taken a week ago, she has been 'showing' for a while.  One thing that I am really dissapointed about is that I could have sworn that I made a diary entry at what I thought was the successful copulation date for this clutch, but, I cannot for the life of me find it!

I came home at lunch today to find Lolly in the throws of laying her eggs in the sandbox that I had put in the Dragons' Den specifically for that purpose.  Clever girl isn't she!  Here you can see a photo I took of her during the process.  I have a few things that I learned from this time.  I put the lay box inside the enclosure this time where as last time I put Lolly in a separate container.  I was worried that the external laying box was not getting up to the right temperature, which was the main reason I placed it inside this time.  Then I confronted two issues.  The sand needs to be kept relatively moist so it doesn't collapse as Lolly tries to dig out a suitable site to lay.  Secondly, I don't have anywhere to put Beau other than in the same enclosure and I was concerned that he might cause issues.

The first problem I addressed by using a spray bottle to wet down the sand box each morning it was in there and mix it all through.  This morning Lolly was camped in the box and so I couldn't go through this process.  Of course I think the sand was less than ideal in moisture level as a result, but, what can you do!  The second issues was a non event.  Beau kept to the other end of the enclosure and steered well clear of proceedings.

The third picture here is of the eggs neatly placed in their incubation medium and container that now rests in the incubator I made in the DIY Incubator Project.  The only difference between how they look now and as they are in this photo is that there are two extra eggs!  Apparently I interrupted Lolly before she had finished.  Whoopsie!  When I returned home from work this evening, I found two extra eggs in the Den.  Amazingly, Beau had his head resting on them.  It was like he was looking after them until I got home.  What a dad eh!  I quickly gathered them up and raced them out to the container in the incubator and they now sit about where the 5c coin is in this picture.  They looked ok and I could see what looked like healthy blood vessels forming so I have my fingers crossed.

The incubator is set to 30 degrees centigrade.  This is higher than I incbuated last season's clutch.  What this means is that they will incubate a little faster.  I expect to see them hatching in under 60 days this time.  So now we hurry up and wait!

Beau Knows

Here you see a fired up Beau.  Notice the jet black beard on partial display.  This photo was taken shortly after I woke up Lolly from her long winter sleep.  Despite appearances, he was happy to see her and love blossomed quickly (and frequently) shortly after.

So Lolly and Beau have finally become better acquainted.  I am hopeful that one of his amorous advances will have been enough to consummate the relationship and in a bit over a month the fruitful results will become self evident.  With Lolly being a bit older this year and in great condition, we may even see several clutches in the season.  Wouldn't that be awesome.  I have plans this year to keep the babies a little longer with a view to picking out some good babies to work on producing some fine looking young. Without knowing the origins of Lolly's bloodlines, she is a fine looking animal.  Beau has some great pedigree behind him and has some fantastic potential in regards to producing beautiful babies.

So the house is a jumping.  All our critters are awake and active.  I picked up Bruce tonight and he felt like an absolute fatty!  I'll weigh all our reptiles at the start of next month, but if the feel of Bruce is anything to go by, he will have put on a ton.  I fed Lacey the last of the pinkie mice that I bought her to begin with.  For the last two weeks she has been scoffing 3 one after another without blinking at her weekly feed.  That was again the case last night.  Tonight, I couldn't even see any bulges where the mice would be digesting.  As a result, I bought some fuzzy mice (the next size up) today with a view to feeding them to her next week.  I am going to try and get some footage of her first feed of them to post up.  Should be really interesting with any luck.

Lots of critters.  Plenty of feeding and cleaning up after.  They are all happy and healthy, what more can you ask for!

New shed photo shoot

It’s been an interesting week with our reptiles. Bruce has continued to settle in nicely.  He appears to be eating well.  Although I have nothing to compare it to, so, I see him eat what I put in there and figure it is going OK.  He doesn't eat everything in there and leaves a little, so I figure he is at least eating enough.  I have also had the pleasure of having Bruce out of his enclosure and handling him for longer periods.  After showing a little bit of displeasure initially, he has settled down and been pretty comfortable and happy to investigate his surroundings from what I have seen.  JT even had a hold tonight.  He has not put on a defensive display since the first few days that we had him.  All things considered it is going pretty well.

Lacey shed her skin for the first time since she has been with us this week.  Snakes colouration is at it's most vibrant directly after they shed their skin.  Conversely, just before they shed, their colours are at their dullest.  So it has been nice to see Lacey at her best this week.  I took the opportunity to get her out today and take some photos, some of which are in this post.  I found the experience really enjoyable.  Lacey was comfortable and as some of the photos showed, she even came over to check out the camera lens.  The result was some pretty cool photos if I do say so myself.  I included the first photo below, because I think it shows well how I think Lacey will have a lot of yellow in her when she gets her adult colours.  Each shed will see her get closer to her final colouration.  Like opening a Christmas present in some ways.

Interestingly, this shed was literally like opening a present in some ways.  Lacey shed the front half of her body cleanly by herself.  After giving her a day to clear the rest, I had to intervene with a warm bath and a helping hand.  Being winter in Canberra, the humidity is quite low inside with heating on frequently.  Despite having access to water, the low levels of moisture in the air meant that Lacey could not complete the shed unaided.  It was a simple process for me to help.  One that I would prefer not to have to do, but, it is not a big deal at all.

The Dragons are still sleepy heads.  Although I did turn the light/heat on for a couple of hours today as Beau has been quietly out and about and looking like he wants to wake up again.  Lolly has been out to it completely so I am in two minds about setting everything back to normal.  I might seek some advice and see what I can turn up.

I'll just finish by saying, reptiles are awesome pets!

Bath time for Beau

After waking up Lolly and Beau after what I thought were signs that it was time to do so, Lolly has proceeded to curl up and go back to sleep!  I was happy enough to let her as she had taken a good drink or two, had something to eat and been to the toilet.  Beau had done all but go to the toilet and has been quite restless for the last day or so.  I haven't wanted to let him return to deep slumber until his digestive system was clear, so I have left daytime light and heat on.

Today, I figured that Beau's restlessness might have been due to a him having a little trouble going potty as it were.  He was a little grumpy as well from what I could tell.  Well....wouldn't you be too??  I have understood for a while that if Beardies are having problems clearing their bowels that a warm bath can be very beneficial.  With that in mind I prepared a suitable container with nice warm water and gave Beau a good soaking this morning.  As you can see from the photo here, he was not fussed with the bath...  Low and behold, around lunchtime it had done the trick!  Beau was a lot more settled and so I turned off the lights after cleaning up.

I'll see how he is tomorrow before I turn on any light or heat sources.  For now, he looks nestled into a nice spot, half buried in the insulating coconut husk that lines the Dragon's Den.  If he is settled and sleeping tomorrow, I will leave the lights out until I see some more definitive signs of stirring for spring.

As I have mentioned before, reptiles that do sleep for long periods do not hibernate like mammals do.  Reptiles brumate.  This is where their metabolism slows right down to the point where they do not need to eat or drink for months on end.  It is ok to wake them as I have done in the last week or so.  They maintain a high level of conciousness at different times during this period of inactivity.  Disturbing them is not something that should be done regularly.  This cooling period is vital in the production of healthy sperm and eggs in many species of reptiles.  So for people looking to breed their pets, brumation is an important part of the process.  However, others, who have no interest in breeding may in fact, never allow their animals to brumate.  This can be best achieved through limiting interaction with natural indications of season like day-length and maintaining a constant heat and light source throughout the year.  Very small indicators can trigger reptiles into brumation.  Even with full heat and light through artificial means, Lolly still curled up and went back to sleep this week.  Most likely because of the external indicator of natural day-length she would have gained through the sunlight in the room of her enclosure.

The Old Switcharoo…

This is a sad post as well as a happy one.  Starting with the sad, last Saturday we parted company with Booster who is pictured here on the left.  He hasn’t died or anything, it’s not that sad a story!

I have been contemplating the idea of acquiring a nice breeding male for quite a while.  I have always been a little disappointed that Booster was never a good handler.  As much as my kids would have liked to hold him even on rare occasions, he was never a boy I could trust to be calm.  He was never a biting risk or anything.  He just didn’t like to be handled.  Plus of course, his colouration was not of the same standard as Lolly’s.

Recently, a very nice looking male that was for sale came to my attention as well as a young man looking to get started in reptile keeping.  Combine the two and we arrive at today.  On Saturday last weekend, Booster was handed over to his new keeper.  I was happy to help a young guy starting out and I am confident that Booster will be in a good home.  He was a sleepy Dragon when I parted company with him, but, in spring, I know he’ll wake up as good as ever.

Today, I was able to take possession of our new ‘stud’ male.  I have named him Beau, after the Black and Gold Dragon in the animated series Dragon Booster, from which Booster got his name.  In the series, Beau is the Dragon of Legend and is in fact named after Bucephalus who was the famous steed of Alexander the Great although that is not referenced in the TV show.  JT has contributed what may stick as his second name ‘Double O’.  I am not sure how long Beau Double O will stay, but, Beau is definitely finalised.  Beau is pictured here on the right.

I brought Beau home around lunch time today.  He had been rudely disturbed from his attempts at brumation to be brought to me and took some slow measured investigations of his new enclosure.  It was quite enjoyable watching him slowly and methodically check things out.  What was even more pleasing was his calm nature as I was handling.  It could have been partly because of his sleepiness and temperature, but, in contrast, in the same state, Booster was still trying to leap out of my hand on the weekend.  By all reports Beau is a great handler and I am exceedingly pleased about that.

By the time I got home from work today, Beau was fast asleep in Booster’s old hide rock looking like he was made for it.  I am not sure that I will even turn the light on tomorrow, as if he is settled back to sleep, I’ll just leave him to it.  What a great transition that would be.  A new home after being woken up from a deep sleep and the possible stress that comes with both and Beau going straight back to sleep tells me that the transition could not have gone better.  Now all I have to do is wait until spring to really get to know him!

And then there was quiet

So all our babies have flown the nest!  Bruce is now well ensconced in his new home.  He is pictured here happy as a pig in the proverbial.  I look forward to seeing pictures in a few months time when he has grown and might have started showing some colour like his mum.

Speaking of Lolly, she and Booster have started Brumating.  As I have mentioned before, Brumation is the reptile equivalent of hibernation in mammals.  Reptile physiology is obviously very different and their bodies go through different processes during long periods of what is essentially sleep.  However, during this time, unlike mammals, it is very likely that Lolly and Booster will wake up every now and then.  They might take a drink and something small to eat and be awake for a few days.  Then most likely they will ferret around a bit and go back to sleep.

This process can continue until the days start getting a bit longer and the weather starts to warm up.  Fascinating that even in an environment where the temperature and light cycle is controlled, that their natural instincts can still kick in so strongly.  Our Dragon’s Den has very little exposure to natural light from the window on the other side of the room.  But, this has been enough for them to catch the day length cycles to kick in both their breeding and Brumation cycles this year.  So basically, I have stopped feeding Lolly and Booster about a week ago and once they had cleared their stomachs, they found a comfy spot and went to sleep.  A day or two later, I turned off the light and heat sources and left them to it.  They have been asleep ever since.  I have put the ceramic heat bulb that emits no light on a thermostat to keep the temperature at about 20C.  That should see them through the process, as scary as it is for me going through it for the first time, without any dramas.

Our babies from this year will not and should not be allowed to brumate.  Dragons should not go through this process in captivity before they are at least 12 months old and are clearly in good health.  Our Dragons did not show any inclination to sleep for exceedingly long periods until the last month or so.  Given their condition I felt as confident as I am ever going to in letting them brumate.

So as the title says, it is all very quite on the Beardie front at the moment.

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!

What's New Pussycat

Apologies once again for being slack.  I thought I would post an update on how things have been going since the momentous last post.  Well, the short answer is they have been pretty much business as usual.

Our clutch of eggs are ticking along nicely from what I can tell.  They look nice enough and none look to have gone bad or have mould on them.  I have opened the containers every week or so to let some fresh air in as advised and they look just as good close up!

I believe Lolly might be gravid again.  It is not uncommon for Dragons to have 2 or 3 clutches in a season from what I understand, so it is not entirely unexpected.  But, here is where it gets interesting.  Next week our family up and flies out for our semi annual holiday to parts far off and exciting.  So let the juggling commence.

I have arranged board and lodgings for Lolly and Booster at Reptiles Inc. for the time we are away.  Additionally I have arrange with my neighbours to watch the incubator for signs of life as it were.  They are under instructions to take the containers to the afore mentioned establishment in the event that the action gets under way before we arrive home.  Had I left the incubator at 29 degrees, we might be seeing little dragons now.  I chose to lower the temperature a little to see if we could draw it out a bit.  I understand that it can take 40-60 days for incubation depending on the temperature.  Higher = faster.  Lower = slower.  26 is as low as I have been recommended to maximise the viability of the eggs.  I stuck with 27 in the hope that we might be able to hold the action off until we return from our holiday.

I have also told the friendly folk at Reptiles Inc. that Lolly could be gravid.  Based on her behaviour in the last few days, I would suggest that she is.  Given the same behaviour last time and the fact that I cannot feel any eggs in her belly as yet, I am hopeful that she will hold on until our return.  Another thing to cross our fingers over.  I am confident that the fine people looking after her will be incredibly capable to care for her and any eggs.  But, it will be so much more satisfying to do it ourselves!

I have added a new link on my recommended sites.  I came across a fantastic looking forum in the last few days.  The Australian Bearded Dragon Forum looks like a very supportive and informative community that is starting to form around a solid core of knowledgeable people.  I would recommend it to anyone who stumbles across my little corner of the intermaweb.

Finally, I have recently taken up Geocaching, which, has seen me out and about in the foot hills around where I live for the first time despite having lived here for over 10 years!  Why does this interest you?  Well the photo in this post is of a beautiful Cunningham's Skink (Egernia cunninghami) that I saw while out on one of my treasure hunts.  It was one of a couple that I saw that I assume formed part of a colony as that is how they live.  I didn't find the treasure I was looking for on that occasion, but, this was certainly an excellent substitute.

Baby Boom - Issue #4

How Eggciting!

This post is a little photo tribute to Lolly's first epic laying of eggs.  That's right.  At some time between 4pm and 5.30pm this Saturday just gone, Lolly successfully laid what we had been thinking for some time was her first clutch of eggs.

First off are a couple of photos of the 'dedicated' laying box I set up for her.  You can see that it is a large, deep tote tray filled about a quarter of the way up with kids play sand.  There is a hole in the lid that I glued fly screen to for ventilation and the lid itself is propped open slightly with a desk lamp with a spotlight glob in it for basking and heat.

I could tell that she has been close to laying for a week or so as she had been very restless and furiously digging at every opportunity.  I had placed her in this container a few times and she had spent her time digging constantly.  You may also notice an upturned shoe box with one end cut off.  This was to provide her with a place, away from the light and heat to look to create a 'nest'.  Wouldn't you know it, she did exactly that!

With the lid off (right), you can see the stylish shoe box.  This photo was taken after I had plucked Lolly out.  I had been vacuuming and washing the floors for about an hour after putting her in.  I had noticed that at one point, she had completely sealed herself into the box, closing off the open end of it with sand.  At this point, I started to get a little excited.

After what I think was about an hour and a half, she emerged from her efforts with sand all over her nose and from a distance a little different.  When I went over I was very pleasantly surprised to see that she looked an awful lot thinner around the middle.  When I picked her up, she was a great deal lighter and running my fingers accross her belly, I could no longer fell the tell tale marble like indicators that she was carrying eggs.  By that stage I was pretty excited.  I rang my girls who were out on a shopping expedition and JT answered the phone as her Mum was driving.  Much excitement and squealing followed.

As you can see from the next photo, after removing the box, the evidence of any work done by Lolly was completely non existent.  She had done an excellent job of covering her tracks.  You can see how hard it would be to find any trace of a nest in the wild.  Notice also how the sand on top of the nest is a little darker.  Dragons seek out slightly moist areas to lay their eggs.  The depth of their nest helps with maintaining a constant temperature for incubation.  As I mentioned previously, during the incubation period, the eggs will also absorb moisture directly from their surroundings.  The play sand used in my laying box comes out of the packet a little moist and maintained the moisture underneath the surface.  So Lolly was able to find suitable enough conditions for her to lay.

Next photo is of some of the eggs in the clutch as I uncovered them.  I had to hunt around for quite a while to find all of them.  I was painstakingly careful as I am sure you can understand.  The first one I lifted out with a teaspoon.  The rest I boldly did with my bare hands.  I have subsiquently read of people using rubber gloved hands, but, I think I would stick with my ungloved hands again should there be a next time.

Can you believe that Lolly, the little superstar laid a total of 26 eggs!  You read correctly, 26!  I could not believe what was happening each time I uncovered another cluster of eggs.  By the time I had half a dozen or so out, the girls had all arrived home.  JT and her sister were down on the floor with me wide eyed and every bit as enthusiastic as I was with every pearly white gem we uncovered.  As you will see below, we managed to get what look to be 25 potentially viable eggs.  I uncovered 1 egg that was squashed.  I was extremely careful uncovering the eggs so I am guessing that Lolly may have squashed it.  However, given the care that she took with her nest, it could just as easily have been me.

This photo is of the 25 viable eggs in the two plastic containers.  They are nestled in a mix of vermiculite and water in a ratio of 1:1 by weight.  That means, for every gram of substrate I put in a ml of water.  This mix, once sealed in the container will maintain a good consistency of humidity and moisture for the eggs to incubate.

Don't the little gems look amazing!  They are about the size of those small, solid chocolate Easter eggs that we all eat to many of each year.  I am still flabbergasted as to how Lolly fit all of them inside her.  Let alone for so long.  One of the indicators that Beardies are getting close to term is a loss of appetite.  As you can imagine, carrying such a load internally, does not leave much room for anything else.  Their organs get pushed up towards the front of their bodies and their stomachs simply don't have room to hold anything like the volume of food that they would normally.  A good indicator for next time is that I noted Lolly went off her food in the last week before she laid her eggs.  She is normally so voracious when it comes to food, I had some serious suspicions that the time was nearing.

The last photo is of where the eggs sit today and where they will continue to be for the next 40-60 days, in our incubator.  You can see, it has a nice digital controller on the top with readings on temperature and humidity collected from sensors inside.  Controls on the top to alter temperature, turn on the fan to improve airflow and turn on the internal light for when we want to take a better look.  The container itself is made of solid polystyrene foam.

I have placed the two containers of eggs, one under each window so we can keep an eye on them.  You might be able to make them out if you look closely.  I took this photo just before I took the containers out to start filling them with eggs!

So, now we wait.  Please excuse the long post, but, I am sure you can appreciate all that I wanted to pack in.  More to come soon!

Baby Boom - Issue #3

It's been just over 3 weeks since we first caught Lolly and Booster 'in the act" as it were.  My research indicates that it can be up to around 40 days after mating that the female will lay eggs.  Lolly has been giving out all the signs.  She is digging furiously at different times and spends most of the day trying to climb out of her enclosure.  I can only think that she is either trying to escape the continued amorous advances of Booster, or attempting to find a suitable site to lay her eggs.  I am not sure that the first time we saw them mate was the first time or the successful time so I am not sure exactly when Lolly will look to lay her eggs.

I have set up a laying box in the Den.  Although I am now wondering if it is too shallow, as in addition to this, I have partially filled one of the larger plastic containers from my failed attempt to breed crickets with play sand and placed Lolly in it a couple of times.  The last time I did this, after settling in for a while she proceeded to dig out a large section of the container right down to the bottom.  The sand in this conatiner is much deeper than the one in the Den.  Hence my concern over the depth of the laying box.

Bearded Dragons breed on the basis of quantity over quality.  They choose to lay a lot of eggs and often.  I believe that some species will lay up to 5 clutches a year.  I understand that Pogona Barbata (Eastern Bearded Dragons, which is what Lolly and Booster are) will lay up to 3 clutches in a season.  Interestingly this can be from a single mating, as the female can store the males sperm to fertilize her eggs later in the season.

So why all the digging you ask?  Well, not only do Beardies breed in large quantities (up to around 30 eggs at a time), the female will lay her eggs and walk away, never to see them again.  In order to give them the best chance of successful incubation, she seeks out the most appropriate site she can.  To be appropriate, the site should maintain a stable temperature of aground 29-30 degrees centigrade and have a reasonable level of moisture.  I will see if I can dig up the level of humidity best suited.  I don't have it on hand at the moment.  The reason that the humidity is so important is that reptile eggs absorb moisture to help sustain the embryos growing inside.  I'll explain more about how I will simulate these conditions next time.

On to the photos....

I thought it would be good to share some photos of the mother to be in her gravid state.  If you look carefully at the lower part of Lolly's tummy, to the right of her elbow, you can see that there as some distinct lumps visible.  These are the eggs growing inside her, that she will eventually lay!  How exciting is that?  In the first photo, you can also see Booster poking his head into the picture trying to get involved and see what all the fuss is about.  So judging by these images, we are go for the laying of eggs at some stage at least.  Exciting times ahead.

Baby Boom - Issue #2

It's been just over a week since I witnessed the first mating attempts by our Dragons.  I'm still really unsure at to whether or not Lolly is "pregnant".  When a reptile is carrying eggs, she is said to be gravid.  

"the term gravid is used to describe the condition of an animal (most commonly fish or reptiles) when carrying eggs internally." 

From what I understand from reading and speaking to people, Beardies will remain gravid for around 40 days.  At which time, the female will lay up to around 30 eggs.  These can be incubated for about the same time and hopefully hatch successfully.  By the time the eggs are ready to hatch, the female should be ready to lay her second clutch for the season.  I believe that they can lay up to 3 clutches in a single season, from a single mating.  So potentially, Lolly is going to be a busy girl!

I have seen some eggs at the reptile store already this season, so I think Lolly may have missed the boat at having 3 clutches.  There is also debate in what I have read as to the benefits of breeding females in their first year of life.  When Peter from Reptiles Inc came for JT's birthday party, he suggested that Lolly was big enough and would look to mate this season.  Which, is the counter to the age argument.  Many seem to suggest that it is the size of the female that determines whether or not she is ready to breed.  Either way, with only having had the one enclosure, we haven't had a lot of say in the matter :-).

I weighed Lolly this week, she is a whopping 334 grams!  When she came to us, she was no more than 10 grams.  Two months ago, she was 180 grams.  So she has nearly doubled her weight in that time.  I am going to weigh her more regularly in the coming weeks, just so I can try and ascertain if she is indeed gravid.

The photo I have included is of Lolly being weighed.  She didn't seem to mind too much, but, put on a great display at the time.  You can see what they are called Bearded Dragons!  She has pushed out her frill and turned it jet black in beautiful contrast to her yellow patterned skin.  You can also understand why they get called the frilly lizard when you see a photo like that.

Baby Boom - Issue #1

On Saturday I decided that Booster was well enough to return to the Dragon's Den. His wounds appeared to be as good as they were going to get and his limp appeared to be all but gone. Besides, I was sick of his moping.

Lolly seemed to accept him back well enough and he seemed happier straight away. So much so that on Sunday afternoon I witnessed them in the act as it were. That's right, they were mating. From what I have read, they displayed classic form.

So, where to from here? I have been burying my nose in whatever online material I can find. A. Lot of it seems pretty consistent. I. Also paid a visit to Peter at Reptiles Inc. this afternoon and he gave me some solid advice. Some of it in contraSt to what I had already read, but, for the most part, it reinforced the direction that I was heading in.

The first thing I have to do is provide the mother to be with somewhere to lay any eggs that she might be carrying. So tomorrow I will be chasing down a kitty litter tray and some sand pit sand.

For now, enjoy the picture of the happy couple who are hopefully currently expecting. More information in the experience and breeding Beared Dragons in general to follow.

Drama Drama Drama

Guilty as charged your honour.  Before you stands the accused who wilfully attacked her denmate leaving him battered and bruised.

That's right....unfortunately Lolly attacked Booster the other day.  She has given him a nasty bite or two on his tail.  He's also limping around on his right fore limb.

He looks like he might lose the end of his tail.  This is more an aesthetic thing, but it does look a little nasty at the moment.  I am mostly concerned about his leg.  He is limping badly.  There is no broken skin or anything, so I am hoping that it is just a bad sprain rather than a break.  It doesn't appear to be on funny angles or anything and he does try to use it.  He just limps and can't take too much weight on it.

I spent a lot of time at Reptiles Inc this week.  I bought a new, smaller enclosure to keep Booster in while he is recovering.  Originally I had him in a large plastic container with heating and substrate set up so he would be comfortable.  I wasn't happy with that longer term as I think he could be separate from Lolly for a while.  So I went and bought a set up that while it is smaller, will be fine for him for a month or two.  Additionally the setup will do fine for in a little over a year when I am able to start keeping other critters.  I hope to get a species of children's python.  There are a few different types, so I will decide which one closer to the time.  I also have to have lost 25 kg by then as the python/s will be my reward.

For now, Lolly, as beautiful as she is, as you can see from the photo above, is in the bad books.  I am wondering if it all has to do with the mating season.  Booster has been displaying all the dominance signs to this point.  The attack from Lolly was completely out of character.  I'll just have to let Booster heal up and see how we go introducing him back into the Dragon's Den!

Dragon Diary - 04/09/2010

Another great month with the Dragons.  Both are going really well and have cemented themselves as part of the family.

Lolly


Weight: 180 grams (+55)
Length: 34 cm (+2)
Food: crickets, meal worms, veggies
Toilet: Regular
Behaviour: Lolly likes to "prowl" the edges of the Den trying to climb out.  When we open the doors she props herself up on the ledge where the glass doors run and pokes her head out looking like she will go for a leap at any stage.  I have had to catch her a couple of times, which, is getting harder as her claws are getting longer.

Speaking of painful things, Lolly has mistaken my fingers for food a couple of times during feeding sessions.  This has given me a shock more than anything, but small scratches remain on the tip of the finger she latches on to.  Nothing that doesn't disappear in a day or two.

Lolly has put on some good size again this month.  The base of her tail continues to look nice and broad indicating that she is in good health.  She eats very heartily when veggies are on offer and always eats anything by way of live food put in front of her.  I have yet to see her appetite for crickets satisfied!


Booster


Weight: 93 grams (+40)
Length: 28 cm (+2)
Food: crickets, meal worms, veggies
Toilet: Regular
Behaviour: Fantastic growth for Booster this month.  He has nearly doubled in size and it is starting to show.  We make sure that crickets are on offer to both Dragons until Booster is full.  It is one strategy we are using to try and even up their sizes.  While he did not put on as much weight as Lolly, certainly as a proportion of overall size, he outstripped her for the first time ever.

Another interesting thing about Booster this month is that he has been displaying true dominance behaviours.  His head bobbing is of the pronounced kind that adult Dragons display.  It is great to watch and point out to the kids.  Lolly on the other hand shows classic submissive displays of hand waving.  So there appears to be a genuine pecking order established with Booster as the boss!  I guess that old saying about it not being the size of the dog in the fight, but, rather the size of the fight in the dog is ringing true.

Booster has been growing more confident with us.  He too will poke his head out of the enclosure at feeding time.  It's quite amusing to see two little heads peering down at the crickets, massing well below them.  He will consistently take food from our hands.  Unfortunately this confidence saw him give JT a nip on the finger, similar to what has happened to me with Lolly.  She got a big fright and is now very careful when she feeds the Dragons.  To her credit, she has been straight back into the action with both Lolly and Booster and shows no ill effects from the experience.

Overall a great month!

JT's August Update

You should have seen the big bit of skin that Lolly lost.  It was so big!

Dad and I have been seeing Booster head bobbing.  That means that he is saying "I'm the boss around here!"  I think that is so cool.

My sister Danika is having fun with Lolly and Booster.  She feeds them with meal worms.

I also like helping Dad when he has to clean out the Den.  One time let me have Lolly and Booster in my room with me while he did it.

Dragon Diary - 01/08/2010

 As you can see, JT and I had the dragons out for their weigh in over the weekend.  It was a good opportunity to clean out the den as well.  I tried to grab a couple of photos to demonstrate the size difference between to two of them, but, of course, they didn't want to pose for us.

We set up one of the trays with a small desk lamp to keep them comfortable while I busied myself with a touch of a spring clean.  JT stood watch and made sure they were comfortable.

JT's cousins, uncle and aunt and her grandparents came over that night for dinner.  The Dragons were great hosts.  Lolly came out and was happy for everyone to have a cuddle and more than happy to eat food offered by anyone (little guts that she is).  All the kids had a hold and a feed and seemed genuinely thrilled at the opportunity for a close encounter.  Booster stayed in the den.  Whilst he has been improving with contact generally, I didn't want to overwhelm him with so many people at one time.

Lolly
Weight: 125 grams (+25)
Length: 32 cm (approx.)
Food: Meal worms, strawberry, crickets, bok choy, etc
Toilet: Regular
Behaviour: Lolly has been continuing on her merry way.  She eats anything and everything.  We started feeding her some meal worms in the last week or so as a treat.  She ate them straight up.  We also tried strawberries and she ate them as well.  Her favourite is still Bok Choy.  In the photo to the right, she is the one underneath, looking to the bottom.  It's hard to tell from this image, but, she is literally over twice Booster's weight.

She continues to be very comfortable being held.  More recently she has been coming to the front of the den when it looks anything like food might be served.  She would climb out if she could I am sure.  I might have to look at rigging up a way in and out for her.  As much as that might concern the matriarch of the family.


Booster
Weight: 53 grams (+23)
Length: 26 cm
Food: Meal worms, strawberry, crickets, bok choy, etc
Toilet: Regular
Behaviour: Booster has had an incredible weight gain in the last two weeks.  He has been very keen on his food and this has obviously been reflected in his growth.  He's put on nearly half his weight in two weeks!  He is now regularly taking food from our hands when we offer him crickets or meal worms inside the den.  I have been very happy with Booster's eagerness for food and general well being.  Who knows, one day he might even catch up with Lolly.