dear people that have bred jacksons,

[DekuScrub]

ive been meaning to ask what sort of behaviors should i be looking for post labor? gravid coloration and restlessness? or do they just pop out? i havent been able to find detailed information on the matter on these here interwebs.

i tried breeding jacksons once (twice including right now) and for whatever reason she retained her first batch. it was pretty heart wrenching because she had an awesome personality.

im not sure if the problem was that her first clutch was so large, or if i was providing tooo much of a nutritional overload. she ended up dying from dystocia. she was even seemingly in good condition when she died. no apparent stress...she just never dropped her batch. i cut her open and the young were fully developed. very large in fact, probably about the size of a 2 month old veiled. i was hoping they had a chance like the eggs i cut out of a female veiled.

kind of turned me off to the live bearers, i got rid of my werneri shortly after her death out of self doubt.

so i recently got a pair of wc xanths that were housed together for god knows how long. so ive been checking on her a few times a day looking for any changes. nothin... shes pretty hefty and could easily be going into labor any day now.

so any insight on what i should bee looking for would ease my mind.

thanks in advance

 

[JoeG]

When mine gave birth she lost her appetite for a couple of days & paced about more than usual before she birthed.

 

[DekuScrub]

okay good, good. mine is still eatting like a champ. any other insights????????





bump

 

[xanthoman]

post birthing xanths

i think a bigger issue is how she is drinking. if she is drinking normal several days to a week after her birthing then i would say you are past the most dangerous part. that being said, she is probably CA deficient right now. even excessive plain (dry) cal can cause problems, so imo now would be a good time to offer a few drops of calcium glubionate (not gluconate) 1x every 2 wks for the next 6 weeks. available here;
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Reptilestore.html
also, because of their inverse CA;P ratio, now is a less than optimal time to be offering crickets, limited qtys of bsfl would be a good thing.

about dystocia, imo, its rare that xanths fail to drop, even when less than healthy, so imo, she probably had other metabolic issues that caused her dystocia/death rather than actually dying directly from dystocia. one of the best things you can do for her (the new one) right now, is get her some natural unfiltered daylight (be sure to adjust your supps accordingly). jmo

 

[Draco1702]

During gestation my female became an extremely picky eater, to the point she would not eat more than a couple of the same feeders at a time. I had her on such a varied diet (5+ types of feeders per day) for most of the gestation. She would not eat every day, but right before delivering she stopped eating for a few days and become extremely restless. She is typically rather sedentary and has a routine - prior to delivery she was all over the cage. Delivery took a few hours, she was done by noon.

After birth she would not eat crickets at all; I increased the number of butterworms, superworms and mealworms to make sure she would get enough energy to recover. I also made supplementation more frequent for a couple of months. At that point she resumed eating crickets as well. That seems to have worked well - after 8 months she is looking better than she ever has.

Hope this helps!

 

[jodeoh60]

Hmmm, this is a tough one. The births have always come as a surprise. I can't comment on gestation length, as I put my male and females together for half a day at least once a week. I've seen them intertwined but cannot confirm when "action" did occur.
The birth is always in the morning. It is very helpful to prevent prolapse if the female is well hydrated. I drip my herd in the shower overnight 4x weekly, and daily after a delivery. The female's plumpness is a clue, but I am still always surprised when a clutch arrives. Good luck, and look for a sudden crop of "crickets" in the cage. One friend looked in and said "Hey, what are those bugs?"

 

[DekuScrub]

i think a bigger issue is how she is drinking. if she is drinking normal several days to a week after her birthing then i would say you are past the most dangerous part. that being said, she is probably CA deficient right now. even excessive plain (dry) cal can cause problems, so imo now would be a good time to offer a few drops of calcium glubionate (not gluconate) 1x every 2 wks for the next 6 weeks. available here;
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Reptilestore.html
also, because of their inverse CA;P ratio, now is a less than optimal time to be offering crickets, limited qtys of bsfl would be a good thing.

about dystocia, imo, its rare that xanths fail to drop, even when less than healthy, so imo, she probably had other metabolic issues that caused her dystocia/death rather than actually dying directly from dystocia. one of the best things you can do for her (the new one) right now, is get her some natural unfiltered daylight (be sure to adjust your supps accordingly). jmo

hmm interesting, well the female that i had previously was actually being housed outdoors, at least for the final few months of her life. (except on particularly hot days)

makes me think maybe the transition from possibly being under supplemented to getting unfiltered sunlight may have played a part. but the amount of supplementation i gave her was exactly the same as my veileds and panthers whos clutches i never had issues with (except the one but she was getting pretty old, and had produced fine the rest of her life)

i think at that time, at least later in her pregnancy, she was getting a lot of silkworms, it was probably 50/50 silkworms and crickets. and bsfl? whats bsfl?

"dystocia, imo, its rare that xanths fail to drop, even when less than healthy"

thats why her death was quite a surprise, she seemed to be in great condition (other than being rather large) her behaviors didnt change one bit either. i had no warning signs... just that it was taking far longer than anticipated.

so would you say that jacksons need a higher amount of calcium than veileds and panthers?

and all ive been feeding the new one is crickets and occasionally superworms...looks like ill have to order some silkies

oh and xanth how do i administer the calcium glubionate? can i put it in my crickets gutload? will they eat it? or do i need to force it in her mouth?

@draco "stopped eating for a few days and become extremely restless"

thanks for confirming that may happen. i had my suspicions based on how all my veileds and panthers acted. but like i said with my previous xanth there were no indicators, and she just keeled over.

@jodeoh

hydration shouldnt be an issue for me, i run my misting system so frequently ive got puddles on the floor /facepalm, and she has been a great drinker regardless. cant say that for the male, hes picky.

thnaks guys

 

[chameleongirl2]

all i have to say, is don't worry about her becoming egg bound!! i was sooo afraid of loosing my girl when she gave birth.. u have no idea the half of it!! it was awful!! only if your doing something wrong she will

 

[DekuScrub]

bumpity bump bump