My Pygmy Breeding thread

[gary1621]

This thread is mostly for my benefit, just so i can remember things. I find typing updates and refering back to threads easier then writing up a 'pen and paper' journal

Please make comments though This is my first time with these little guys and i would love some experienced input!

Marlow and Mini arrived 2nd Feb

Mini laid 3 eggs possibly more between the 7th and 10th Feb

Previous threads have said 60 to 75 day incubation. I understand this is very dependant on conditions the eggs are kept.


So if i count on 60 days
from the 7th = 29days in, hatching = 8th April
form the 10th = 25days in, hatching = 12th April

75 days
from the 7th, hatching = 23rd April
from 10th, hatching = 27th April

I have decided this first clutch will be left alone inside the enclosure, trusting that Mini has chosen the right spot for her clutch. So i will have to really keep my eyes open between the 8th - 27th of April, hehe

Scary thing is my female already looks gravid again, is this possible so soon?

 

[gary1621]

I'm really tempted to move the eggs to a smaller enclosure that i have set up... but i dont know if i should move them.

They are quite big, about a month old. Would moving them now cause problems?

It's just that they will be easier to spot when they hatch

 

[chameleon chaos]

hi, I live in Ontario, Canada. I am looking for both pygmy and vieled chameleon babies.
Does anybody know of breeders in my province or country?

 

[Brad Ramsey]

I'm really tempted to move the eggs to a smaller enclosure that i have set up... but i dont know if i should move them.

They are quite big, about a month old. Would moving them now cause problems?

It's just that they will be easier to spot when they hatch

I wouldn't move them.
Babies are easy to spot as they tend to move up to higher branches in the enclosure almost immediately after hatching.

-Brad

 

[gary1621]

Thanks Brad They will stay put then.

I added a couple of extra twigs near the laying site so they have a quicker route up

I cant tell you how excited i am!

 

[gary1621]

Was worried about the amount of moisture in the soil, so i syphoned off the excess in the enclosure and have been extra careful when misting that general area.
I was worried because i was slightly surprised with how big the eggs looked, i was told they would be tic-tac sized when laid. I understand the eggs would grow in size as the babies formed but they looked twice the size of a tic-tac to me. So i thought maybe the soil was too damp?

I had a quick peek at them a week back and the eggs on top still looked white and healthy I'm still not sure how many are there, I didnt want to dig down and disturb them.

Mini has been good, eatting and poop'ing as usual. From what i have noticed Marlow has been leaving her alone. He doesnt dance, display or anything. Its pretty hard to get him to do anything, hehe, though i must'nt complain because he is eatting more frequently in front of me now which i am very pleased with.

I believe Mini may have laid another clutch of eggs yesterday or the evening before. She seems rather slim all of a sudden!

I'm not going to disturb them looking for eggs. I will wait until the next enclosure clean up. I have yet to get my hands on some springtails The woodlouse are in and they seem to be doing a good job on veg matter though

If there is another batch in there I might be really careful and tub them, and keep them in the cupboard. It will be nice to have something my family can track and get excited about with me (The pygmys are up in my room with me so they have very little to do with them, though the do ask about them a lot)

 

[laurie]

I am so happy you are posting to this thread. I also have pgymys and hope to at some point have babies, so far nothing. i am worried that even if there were eggs i would never know it. Keep the info coming I will be waiting to hear about babies.

 

[gary1621]

Hey Laurie thanks for reading. Good luck with your little ones and keep me posted on them too!!

I would never have known there were eggs until (fingers crossed) babies were found. I came across them by accident while doing a clean up. I was turfing the soil over rather roughly and then thought i'd better take it easy incase she had laid. I wasnt expecting to find anything because i'd only had the pair a month. But there they were. No signs what so ever that they had been burried in that spot. It would have been helpful if she put up a sign or painted a nursery area


I am anticipating the eggs hatching towards the end of my estimate or later. The temperature in my room wavers on and just below the 70 mark.


The second lot of eggs, if there are any were laid on the 21st of March (going by Mini's new waist ) and could hatch between 19th of May and 3rd of June... using the same method above in my OP to calculate.
Ideally i would like to get them out and try incubating them in our store cupboard, see how this method goes.
I'll have a look in the enclosure when i do a clean out at the weekend.

 

[gary1621]

eek, had a bit of a slow day... was procastinating and this is the best place for it
Was supposed to be filling out some application forms.

Anyways... dug a bit deeper in the knowledge posted by others and it could take 90 days for the eggs to hatch!! How i missed that i dont know?!

So

90 days for the first clutch would be 12th May.

90 days for possible 2nd clutch could be 18th June.

I dont want to wait that long *stamps foot* hehe

 

[Cavin]

Was worried about the amount of moisture in the soil, so i syphoned off the excess in the enclosure and have been extra careful when misting that general area.
I was worried because i was slightly surprised with how big the eggs looked, i was told they would be tic-tac sized when laid. I understand the eggs would grow in size as the babies formed but they looked twice the size of a tic-tac to me. So i thought maybe the soil was too damp?

I had a quick peek at them a week back and the eggs on top still looked white and healthy I'm still not sure how many are there, I didnt want to dig down and disturb them.

Mini has been good, eatting and poop'ing as usual. From what i have noticed Marlow has been leaving her alone. He doesnt dance, display or anything. Its pretty hard to get him to do anything, hehe, though i must'nt complain because he is eatting more frequently in front of me now which i am very pleased with.

I believe Mini may have laid another clutch of eggs yesterday or the evening before. She seems rather slim all of a sudden!

I'm not going to disturb them looking for eggs. I will wait until the next enclosure clean up. I have yet to get my hands on some springtails The woodlouse are in and they seem to be doing a good job on veg matter though

If there is another batch in there I might be really careful and tub them, and keep them in the cupboard. It will be nice to have something my family can track and get excited about with me (The pygmys are up in my room with me so they have very little to do with them, though the do ask about them a lot)

im wondering if your using the isopods or woodlouse / springtails to clean, can you write me about this topic?

 

[gary1621]

im wondering if your using the isopods or woodlouse / springtails to clean, can you write me about this topic?

If you look in the pygmy enclosure section or do a forum search for them custodians you should find lots of information

From my experience I have found that the chams love eating both, I say this because the numbers i introduce goes down... even some of the larger louse. For this reason i have decided to use animals captured from my garden (no chemicals or anything used).

I have woodlouse housed in a tank for about 3 weeks before transfering the smaller ones over. They get a good feed, nice accommodation and hopefully the larger/adults will start to breed in there for me.

Springtails are harder to capture i've found, I need to make a pooter or something to help me get them easier. I have a few fairly large ones in the enclosure and have spotted a number of smaller ones... but i must get more as there are not nearly enough in there to do a good job yet.

 

[gary1621]

I am completely stumped as to whether my female laid a second clutch or not. I think it may have been a feeding pop belly, hehe... As she seems to be a nice fair size around the tummy area once again

I didnt do the planned enclosure clean up, decided to do some spot cleaning the best i could for the week... so i might have a good clean at the end of this week and have a look for eggs.
I'm still really keen on tubbing a batch.

I will have a sneak peek at the ones i know are in there and let you all know how they are looking and see if i have noticed any changes. I wish i knew what infertiles would look like. Surely they would have grown some fuzz or something by now?!

Mini is eatting well as is Marlow, and he is being the perfect gentleman and leaving her alone still (well, while i am around that is)

My parents are counting down the days with me, my dad actually got a little grumpy when i told him it could be 90 days, hehe

 

[Tazjunky]

May have been big belly i think Gary!
My ?Gravid Female is going big, then small, big, then small in in the space of a few days so i dont think she is gravid at all, i think she is just a healthy eater!

have one female who i htk may be gravid, caught her in the act 2 weeks ago, so fingers corssed for the middle of next month. she is definately a bit tubby compared to what she was like.

 

[damzlfly]

hi, I live in Ontario, Canada. I am looking for both pygmy and vieled chameleon babies.
Does anybody know of breeders in my province or country?

Where are you in Ontario? I have a fantastic rep guy in Kitchener. He will be getting another clutch of Veileds in the next couple of weeks.

 

[gary1621]

Ok, did the intensive spot clean this afternoon and the female wasnt best pleased with me! She sat there all stretched out like a leaf on the Ficus i moved them to.

I must get a colony of springtails!!!

Sadly no more eggs to report, but to be honest i'm quite pleased about that. I dont think i want Mini's health put at risk. I would prefer she recovered and took advantage of the calcium suppliments herself.

Ok, had a look at the eggs and they have gotten bigger They look perfect, no dents, no fungus and they are a nice white colour. Though the soil has left some colour on their exposed sides (they are clumped together).

There are infact 4 eggs. I took the one off the top and moved it to the side of its brothers/sisters and underneath was the fourth That one has a better job getting out now if it does hatch. The one i moved i was very careful not to tilt or anything so fingers crossed it is fine

 

[gary1621]

Corr, i havent updated this in a month!! Not really had the need to, they havent hatched yet.

I have been sitting on my hands i can tell you! I've wanted to take a sneak peek at the eggs for about a week now but i have been good and left them alone. I just want to see if there have been any developments as they are so close to 90 days now And there have been so many egg threads recently.

I might be naughty and have a look tomorrow... just a small one

The enclosure i made back when the eggs were laid is looking good. The ivy has taken and the colony of woodlouse have bred, there are loads of little white guys walking around in there I'm so pleased.

 

[Miss Lily]

Maybe you should check the eggs if they are that close to hatching - you wouldn't want to miss one of those tiny guys by not checking, lol! I can't wait to see these baby pics Gary! Come on eggies .... hurry up!

 

[tananda]

Gary, quick question, how do you catch the woodlice? I can't seem to find a place to buy them.

 

[gary1621]

Tiff, you and me both hehe

The woodlouse are from the bottom of my garden. We have a 'wildlife' area (well as much of one as you can in a London back garden) So the woodlouse come from under the rocks and logs. I just pick them up and shake them off in to a large bucket.
All the other creepy crawlies get taken back outside once i've sorted them out.

They are quite easy to find! Anywhere sheltered from the sun, fairly damp and has some
places to hide.

They then live in a seperate tank for a couple of weeks being fed and watered just to make sure there are no nasties on them and then eventually they get put in with my pygmies.

I considered buying some, but they get eatten so quickly... its easier for me the way i do it.
I still need to get my hands on a Springtail culture, they are either quite pricey or not in stock

Off to have a pygie clean up and a little peek now

 

[Tazjunky]

Come on little eggs! hatch!
I think Monicas eggs that i harvest are no good : (
But, Sheila's eggs are looking great! a little bigger than last week : )

Looking forward to pics Gary! get them up pronto once the little fellas arrive! lol