The Popcorn and Tatty and Their Eggs Thread: Also new Babie

[Tatty]

In order to answer both questions, here are what most breeders recommend. Never breed your dragons younger than two years of age if you can help it. The females will grow for about 24 months and this might take away from their development. Also, the males may not be experienced enough yet to produce a successful clutch. This is more important to adhere to with the females than the males. The reason five years is suggested is because productivity declines. Fewer eggs, fewer clutches. Its like beardie menopause. I am not sure of the risks. Everything seems to be targeted at premature breeding being dangerous.
As far as candling the eggs go, anytime is fine. Just handle carefully. I recommend just using a flashlight or better yet a minimag light. I will have more egg development pictures and others this weekend.

Tatty

 

[rkdkp]

Thanks Tatty, Our eggs are just 1 day newer than yours, so this is perfect to see exactly what our eggs should look like. We will try looking at them tonight. We thought we needed to wait a couple weeks after they were laid to look.

 

[Tatty]

I actually looked at mine the day after laying. Just use a small, bright, flashlight.

Tatty

 

[Tatty]

This question was asked privately of me and I thought I would post it for everyone's benefit. If you discover an egg that you are sure is legitimately spoiling or going bad, there is a very important reason for isolating/and/or eliminating it. This was a painful experience that I learned from an early clutch of eggs from Mongo quite a few years ago. I was incubating her clutch of 25 eggs in an incubator and was determined to leave them all in the incubator until they proved themselves bad beyond the reasonable doubt of hatching. A couple of eggs starting getting sticky and slightly collapsing. I just kept them there with the other eggs. About 48 hours later, I had an incubator where fruit flies were crawling all over the eggs and maggots were covering all of the eggs. I was sick. My entire clutch was ruined. This is a sad painful lesson that I learned the hard way and I thought I would share my experience with everyone else. Check regularly for bad eggs. If you are unsure if they are bad isolate them for a short time and once you are sure, discard the egg, lest you lose your whole clutch.

Tatty

 

[Tatty]

This is a picture of the 07 clutch that Tatty was a part of. Baby beardies should be left in the incubator for 24-48 hours after hatching. It is important for them to become acclimated and also give them time to absorb their yolk sac. I will show you pictures of a yolk sac when I get some hatchlings. I may have hatchlings in about 30 days! I will keep everyone updated. Also, it is important the you prep your incubators for hatchling safety. Once the hatchling exits the egg, it can end up in virtually any part of the incubator. You don't want it to land in a channel with water or tear the yolk sac off on the screen that is enclosed with the incubator. It is best to keep the egg container covered so the beardie is confined to its container. Just remember, for each collapsed egg, their is a baby beardie hiding somewhere. Its also important to leave the hatchlings in with the unhatched eggs as the movement of the babies over the remaining eggs in the clutch will stimulate them to hatch also. It may take any where from 2 days to a week for all the babies in a single clutch to hatch.

:study: Tatty

 

[beardie parents]

I have never breeded my beardies and I don't really want to. However, it does seem that there is SOOOO much to know to get involved in breeding. This doesn't include all the cost of breeding, either.

 

[Tatty]

The cost of incubation is the least. Once the babies hatch, the expense really begins. You need thousands of tiny crickets or phoenix worms to feed them every week or every other week depending on the numer of babies.You also need a separate group of vivariums and extra lighting. I have extra equipment because I am also in to breeding African Cichlid Fish big time. My hobby area in my home is called my fish/reptile room and is a mini petshop in and of itself. I sell my babies to caring keepers for $35.00 each and give a quantity discount. To some this sounds expensive, but it just about breaks even for me. I do this because I love beardies and I enjoy raising them. I only sell to select pet stores with a good reputation or select people. I will not sell to someone who doesn't have a convincing knowledge of how to care for them. I care for their humane treatment and always work with the people who buy them to make sure that their questions are always answered. This is a labor of love and I love perpetuating this intelligent and gentle reptiles for other people to enjoy and love.

Tatty :wink:

 

[Tatty]

The cost of incubation is the least. Once the babies hatch, the expense really begins. You need thousands of tiny crickets or phoenix worms to feed them every week or every other week depending on the numer of babies.You also need a separate group of vivariums and extra lighting. I have extra equipment because I am also in to breeding African Cichlid Fish big time. My hobby area in my home is called my fish/reptile room and is a mini petshop in and of itself. I sell my babies to caring keepers for $35.00 each and give a quantity discount. To some this sounds expensive, but it just about breaks even for me. I do this because I love beardies and I enjoy raising them. I only sell to select pet stores with a good reputation or select people. I will not sell to someone who doesn't have a convincing knowledge of how to care for them. I care for their humane treatment and always work with the people who buy them to make sure that their questions are always answered. This is a labor of love and I love perpetuating this intelligent and gentle reptiles for other people to enjoy and love.

Tatty :wink:

 

[Ethelia]

Heheh awww Tatty I got excited when I saw the hatchling photos!
Then of corse I realised babies dont hatch in a week!
Holly

 

[Tatty]

Pictures of the eggs tomorrow. I think soon that we will see movement! The development is becoming much more pronounced. Hatch date of the first clutch may be as soon as February first! Counting down is so exciting! All of Tatty's eggs are growing and doing ust fine. I tentatively have 41 baby dragons on the way. Tatty will be a mother and Popcorn will be a grandmother!

Tatty

 

[Tatty]

Mittens provides a comfortable site for Popcorn to rest after laying eggs.

 

[Tatty]

Unfortunately I had an emergencey today. Last night I seen some movement in the eggs. I will post pictures tomororrow. My three little bundles are all doing ok. Tomorrow will be a better day.

Tatty

 

[Ethelia]

Did you lose some eggs Tat?

 

[Tatty]

No, a friend got fired.

Tat

 

[JubJubLizard]

Hi can't wait to see the pics tonight and sorry to hear about your friend
I was wondering if you could tell me about the candling. I understand how to do it and when our eggs were laid you could clearly see the red spot and the sqiggles off of the red spot. When do you candle again and is there a time in the process when you should not candle? Just want to be sure for the future. Our eggs are only 5 days old right now so we have plenty of time thank you so much and thanks for having this on going post. It has been a ton of help for us. My daughter loves the names Tatty and Popcorn