Chameleophlaged
Avid Member
THE STORY
I like live bearers, I have great luck with them, but I wanted to diversify the species I'm working with and decided to pair up a Kammer Ambilobe with a Canvas Creations male pair. I didn't want a particularly large clutch so I only left him in the cage about 24 hours (enough time for at least 3 witnessed matings).
I set up a laying bin according to directions and waited for her to start behaving differently. She didn't act any different for 3 weeks, so i decided I'd put her in the bin, she hated it. I put her back and she still wasn't acting particularly restless, but I decided to try a different approach.
I cut a 5 gallon bucket to 12 inches, filled it to top with mixture and moved things around so I could fit it in the bottom of her cage, a 24X24X48 screened ReptiBreeze outside 27/7 in So Cal. I then put 10 inches of ReptiBark over the entire bottom and covered it with 2-3 inch smooth rocks to the level of the bin dirt, making the bottom of the cage level with a 12 inch circle of dirt surrounded by rock. The whole thing was wrapped in heavy privacy curtain black side in with top uncovered and enough looseness around the bottom for good air circulation.
After getting it all set up outside temp was about 90 at 9AM and this thing looking similar to a POW sweatbox than something I wanted my cham in, I grabbed the ol trusty laser temp gun and lifted up a lower corner and shot in ...77 not bad...shot down from the top to the basking spot 86... OK things look good.
Well naturally I wondered "Well whats she doing?". I peeked in and all I saw was a big pile of sand/mix and a blueish dark tail curled up out of a hole in the ground. WOW... pretty cool . I went away and fed the rest of the gang (about an hour and a half) and decided I'd check in on her again \. She hadn't budged! I freaked thinking maybe she was dead so I touched her tail, she wasn't dead. Cool..I went away again.
About an hour later it was close to 100, the misters had come on a couple of times, so I decide I'd again check the temp in the sweatbox. It was 82 bottom 94 top, but what I did notice was that she was sitting up high in the cage getting some of the sun that comes in and had buried her tunnel and flattened everything down. She still looks fat.
THE QUESTION
How do I know if she laid eggs or if that was a exploratory tunnel without pulling the bucket out and digging it up?
I like live bearers, I have great luck with them, but I wanted to diversify the species I'm working with and decided to pair up a Kammer Ambilobe with a Canvas Creations male pair. I didn't want a particularly large clutch so I only left him in the cage about 24 hours (enough time for at least 3 witnessed matings).
I set up a laying bin according to directions and waited for her to start behaving differently. She didn't act any different for 3 weeks, so i decided I'd put her in the bin, she hated it. I put her back and she still wasn't acting particularly restless, but I decided to try a different approach.
I cut a 5 gallon bucket to 12 inches, filled it to top with mixture and moved things around so I could fit it in the bottom of her cage, a 24X24X48 screened ReptiBreeze outside 27/7 in So Cal. I then put 10 inches of ReptiBark over the entire bottom and covered it with 2-3 inch smooth rocks to the level of the bin dirt, making the bottom of the cage level with a 12 inch circle of dirt surrounded by rock. The whole thing was wrapped in heavy privacy curtain black side in with top uncovered and enough looseness around the bottom for good air circulation.
After getting it all set up outside temp was about 90 at 9AM and this thing looking similar to a POW sweatbox than something I wanted my cham in, I grabbed the ol trusty laser temp gun and lifted up a lower corner and shot in ...77 not bad...shot down from the top to the basking spot 86... OK things look good.
Well naturally I wondered "Well whats she doing?". I peeked in and all I saw was a big pile of sand/mix and a blueish dark tail curled up out of a hole in the ground. WOW... pretty cool . I went away and fed the rest of the gang (about an hour and a half) and decided I'd check in on her again \. She hadn't budged! I freaked thinking maybe she was dead so I touched her tail, she wasn't dead. Cool..I went away again.
About an hour later it was close to 100, the misters had come on a couple of times, so I decide I'd again check the temp in the sweatbox. It was 82 bottom 94 top, but what I did notice was that she was sitting up high in the cage getting some of the sun that comes in and had buried her tunnel and flattened everything down. She still looks fat.
THE QUESTION
How do I know if she laid eggs or if that was a exploratory tunnel without pulling the bucket out and digging it up?
![WP_20180718_008[1].jpg](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg' width='1440' height='810' viewBox%3D'0 0 1440 810'%2F%3E "WP_20180718_008[1].jpg")
