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

[Tatty]

This is a picture of November 30. See the embryo.

Tatty

 

[Tatty]

December 31, 2008

Tatty

 

[Tatty]

This is an infertile laid by Twizzler. It was laid last night. See the difference.

Tatty

 

[Tatty]

Look at all the eggs! You can candle eggs at any time and any frequency. These eggs were laid by Tatty and Twizzler. I have 57 eggs in the incubator. :mrgreen:



Tatty

 

[dobiegil2000]

Tatty,
Thanks for sharing your journey. I am really enjoying this thread. I love the idea of breeding beardies, and think I might might like to get into it. One concern is ending up with too many juvies. Have you ever had this problem?

Robin

 

[Tatty]

No. I have always been fortunate.

Tatty

 

[Tatty]

Coming up next week: New pics and possibly 14 days away from the first babies.

Tatty

 

[Tatty]

The eggs are really growing. Eggs hatch at any point between 55-75 days. Eggs ay hatch by January 25 or as late as February 15. They are changing daily. I will post pics on Monday or Tuesday and begin the countdown to the first hatchlings. Hatchlings have a temporary egg tooth to exit their eggs. They have an umbilicus and yolk sac at birth. Eggs will sweat and dimple prior to hatching. The hatching process takes anywhere from 24-72 hours to be complete. This is an exciting time for anyone who loves beardies.

:study: Tatty

 

[trinamine]

Thanks for this thread. I've found it very useful. I have a gravid female for the first time and been reading as much as possible. I'm in South Africa and most people that I've spoken to here don't bother too much with providing a lay box for their BDs. The breeder I spoke to thought I was a bit weird to suggest it and the person I got her from said she just laid them all over her tank last time. She's very restless so I think she'll lay soon, unless it's just because she only arrived 2 days ago and she's nervous?

 

[Tatty]

That is a sure sign of motherhood. Twizzler would not lay until placed in a 20 gallon aquarium with 12 inches of damp potting soil.

:idea: Tatty

 

[Tatty]

Houston, we may have a problem! One of Twizzler's eggs has mold on it and smells. I may suffer some loss, but this can be a typical part of the game. More on it tomorrow.

Tatty

 

[Krythis]

I found this thread very useful, thanks so much for taking the time Tatty. Its hard to find any information on beardie breeding online, but I did see some pages that suggested this was so that someone can't just get into it without first understanding what they are getting into.

I've had my female(Melaina) since she was a juvenile, and I bought my male(Mendel) about 2 years later. They are both a little over 4 years old now. I've let them be together at different times, not trying to mate them but just letting them do their thing. Mel has laid a couple clutches in the past but I didn't have much luck with them. Now I'm interested in letting them mate and was wondering how often do you allow your beardies to be together and is there anything you have to do to help the process? I've heard of changing the lighting schedule to allow them to brumate beforehand, is this encouraged?

I'd like to keep them together more, but I'm uncertain if it's good for my female. My male is a horny bastard and the whole mating scene looks so violent. But I have seen my female get defensive and the male backed off immediately(she is like twice his size lol)...So does that mean she can handle herself if she's 'unwilling'?

Sorry if these are odd questions, I just want my beardies to be comfortable and happy

 

[trinamine]

YAY! Izzy layed 17 beautiful eggs. 16 look obviously fertile - didn't even have to candle them to see the embryo and one has a blood vessel on one end but nothing else. All in the incubator and now we wait. I'm going to stat another thread and post the pictures I took if I can get around my techno-challenged brain!!

 

[Tatty]

Well folks, here is the latest update on the eggs. One of Tatty’s December 31 clutch of 19 is beginning to mold and three of Twizzler’s first clutch of 16 is going bad. There is mold and odor. This isn’t unusual because some times an egg is damaged by mama’s nails or the burial process. All of Tatty’s first 22 from November 30 look great and may be as little as one week away from hatching. I have separated all the questionable eggs from the good eggs but will leave them in a separate container until I am assured that they are absolutely “dead”. This is a normal occurrence that everyone who raises and breeds beardies has to deal with. I just have had “exceptional” luck with Tattys’ first clutch. Twizzler, however , was one of Popcorn’s babies that was owned by some friends. They have a male that she mated with and they did not wish to incubate the eggs and raise the babies. Consequently, the eggs were 24 hours without incubation and were delivered to me on one of the coldest days in the year. This may play a role in elevating the failure rate.
Regarding keeping beardies together, I house them together and take my cues from the animals. Mine appear to be social and like each other’s company. I do have extra vivariums for the purpose of separation and will not hestitate to use them if I notices the smallest problems. Tatty, Popcorn, and Cooper are currently in the same enclosure. Tatty mated with Cooper but Popcorn would not. She actually head butted him and bearded at him the first time he made overtures. She has laid three clutches of eggs with none fertile. Beardies will lay eggs whether mated or not. While every beardie is different, you need to be sensitive to their needs and make adequate provisions or separatethe animals permanently if necessary. I cut the hours of lighting back gradually to about 10 hours of daylight and reduce the basking bulb strength by about 50% to stimulate mating and do this for 4-6 weeks. Afterwards, I gradually increase conditions to what they were previously. My beardies have never exhibited violent mating behavior as indicated by injuries. The most I have observed are a few nipped scales at the base of the ridge on the female’s neck. This isn’t to imply that some people don’t’ have serious injuries with their animals. Once again, know your animals and take your cues from them. Handlethem regularly and watch their interactions.

More to come,
Tatty

 

[Tatty]