Question on breeding after egg laying

[jajeanpierre]

I have a wild-caught female Trioceros quadricornis gracilior who presented me with eggs yesterday. She was imported early February.

Once she recovers from laying her eggs, I'll start her on a worming program. She has not been wormed yet. I want to get a fecal on her before I worm her to see exactly what I am dealing with.

I have a male gracilior from that same shipment that I hope to eventually breed her to.

I would like to get as many eggs from her that were sired by an unknown male that is (hopefully) completely unrelated to her and to my male before I breed her to my male. If I don't breed her and just let nature take its course, what percentage of fertile eggs is she likely to have? At the same time, I don't want to stress her with producing a clutch of mostly infertile eggs. Does it make sense to not breed her for the next clutch (if I'm so lucky to get another clutch)? My goal is to get a collection of breeding stock that is as unrelated as possible.

There are health reasons to not breed her as well. She has not yet been wormed on my vet's advice. The two males from the December import--same importer, same exporter--had roundworms, whip worms, flukes (could have been a stage of lung worms), flagellates, and giardia. I think that's everything. A young quad quad from the graciliors' shipment died of massive lung worms. I'm not crazy about introducing her to my male gracilior who will have just completed three or four treatments of dosing for 3 to 5 days in a row. That's a lot of manhandling for a newly imported wild caught.

Thoughts?

 

[ponders]

My female laid three clutches from one mating. There were some infertile and some runts from the later clutches, but only a few. You can look at my blog, I documented times between clutches. This species seems to be variable on time between clutches and after mating.

I would worm her as instructed by the vet now and let her develop her next clutch if she is going to. How many eggs did she lay?

 

[jajeanpierre]

My female laid three clutches from one mating. There were some infertile and some runts from the later clutches, but only a few. You can look at my blog, I documented times between clutches. This species seems to be variable on time between clutches and after mating.

I would worm her as instructed by the vet now and let her develop her next clutch if she is going to. How many eggs did she lay?

Thanks, Tylene. I'll have a look at your blog. She gave me 14 eggs, but I think two are not good. These are my very first eggs, so I really don't know. She looks surprisingly good considering what a rough two months she has had.

 

[ponders]

That is a good size clutch. Good luck. What temps are you incubating at?

 

[jajeanpierre]

That is a good size clutch. Good luck. What temps are you incubating at?

I've been waiting for an Exo-Terra incubator I ordered, but relying on a $200 unit to heat or cool is kind of scary.

Right now the box is sitting on Styrofoam on the floor in a cupboard with a digital remote thermometer inside the box reading 68F. I double checked the accuracy of that remote by putting the remote (for use outdoors) and the inside unit on the floor together and found they both read the same temperature.

My worry is that they might get too hot later in the summer. I would really like to use Mother Earth as the temperature controller since she doesn't fail. I think heat will be my biggest worry. I can drop the temps down by removing the Styrofoam and putting the box directly on the floor. I can also put a Styrofoam cooler over top, keeping the warmer ambient air from the room away from the eggs.

I'll be getting an incubator as a back up in case my plans don't work.

I'd like them to be a degree warmer than they are now 4and I'll tinker around with things either insulating them more from the floor or raising them a bit higher. I'll pick up another remote thermometer to use when I tinker around with the temps--I'll create an exact copy of my box of eggs and then do things like cover it with blankets, raise it off the floor and figure out how to manipulate the temperature with the dummy box before I need to change things for real. Heat is going to be my problem, I think.

 

[ponders]

I tried incubating in my closet, like I had done with panther eggs, but we had a heat wave and they got too hot, even using cooler, icepacks etc. I bought an incubator, but of course it took it's good old time coming. I lost 8 of 10 from my first clutch. Definitely worth the investment IMHO.

 

[jajeanpierre]

I tried incubating in my closet, like I had done with panther eggs, but we had a heat wave and they got too hot, even using cooler, icepacks etc. I bought an incubator, but of course it took it's good old time coming. I lost 8 of 10 from my first clutch. Definitely worth the investment IMHO.

I ordered it weeks ago and am still waiting. I'll have it all set up and calibrated "just in case" I need it. If I have it all ready and waiting, I'm sure I won't need it, but I would rather have it brand new and never used incubator than losing a clutch of eggs.

Is 68F too cold? It has stayed a constant 68F.

The mamma looks remarkably good. I just want a stool sample before I start to worm her. The vet picked up giardia in the two bigger males from the December import. I've treated everyone, including the group from the early February import as if they have giardia since they were imported and housed at the same importer and exporter. Even if they were clear of giardia at capture, I would expect them to have it now. The graciliors always looked just better than the quad quads. If she doesn't have giardia, I would rather not worm her for with the giardia protocol--to get rid of giardia I will need to worm her 3 to 5 days in a row per treatment for three treatments. I think that amount of manhandling is really hard on them and she's had enough stress in her life in the past two months.

 

[ponders]

My incubator stays between 68-70.

A fecal test definitely would be in order before worming her.

 

[jajeanpierre]

My incubator stays between 68-70.

A fecal test definitely would be in order before worming her.

Is your incubator an Exo-Terra?

 

[ponders]

Yes, it is an exoterra.