Indoor enclosure incubation success

[Spankenstyne]

Well I am pretty damn excited here, a first for me. Two baby Russians. I have my trio set up in a 5'x3'x3' indoor enclosure with about 12"-18" of dirt with surface rocks & tiles that cover hide areas.

I caught the biggest female digging what I thought was a nest hole to lay some eggs in the hide area, but when she was done she didn't fill the hole back in like she normally does. Upon closer inspection I was absolutely shocked to see a fresh baby sitting up in the dirt at the edge of the hole under the cover of their hide. A careful sweep of the hole with my hand to see if I could find more of the eggs and I saw movement beneath. One more baby poked it's feet and head out of the dirt.

I had decided this spring after several years of nice looking but infertile eggs, "screw it... I'll leave them in the dirt and see if the natural way will work" since I've tried pretty much everything else with no success. I was getting nice looking calcified eggs but always infertile. I had chalked it up to the male but it looks like it may have been the female as it appears the second female has produced these eggs.

What I found fascinating was how the mother took the time to dig out the dirt to help the babies come out, or at least appeared to be doing so. The dirt was pretty dry as well which was really surprising. Is it normal behaviour to see the mother helping dig out the babies?

A quick shot taken that morning of them (Aug 29 2012). The first one I had just rinsed off and the second one was exactly as I found it, right out of the dirt.

 

[Yvonne G]

That's pretty exciting, all right!

I doubt the mother was helping the babies out. More than likely she was digging a new nest hole and stopped when she realized there was something in that one.

 

[kimber_lee_314]

Congratulations!!! Nothing more exciting than finding an unexpected baby!

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Congrats! I have never seen a female assist with the hatchings climbing out of the nest site! Once again, Congrats!

 

[Spankenstyne]

Thanks for the kind words folks, it's been a fun challenge to get babies so I'm pretty excited to finally have some success.

That's pretty exciting, all right!

I doubt the mother was helping the babies out. More than likely she was digging a new nest hole and stopped when she realized there was something in that one.

It's something I've considered as well, that it was probably a fluke with the timing, and really it could be just that.

The only holes I have in that theory at the moment are that she wasn't labouring at the time, didn't lay any eggs then, and hasn't dug any holes since (but it's only been about a week). I'm keeping a closer eye on her now as well & I suppose time will tell. I'll be trying to keep the camcorder charged & see if it happens again

 

[pdrobber]

that's great! I'm still waiting on mine to start getting busy...

 

[jeffbens0n]

Very cool...Did you do anything to maintain the substrate temperature for the eggs? Any idea what that temp was?

 

[Tom]

Congrats. That is very cool. Love seeing CB russians. What are your enclosure temps? Do you do anything different from summer to winter? Do your adults ever go outside? Where are you?

Lets learn from this awesome event.

 

[Spankenstyne]

Very cool...Did you do anything to maintain the substrate temperature for the eggs? Any idea what that temp was?

I didn't do anything special to maintain the substrate temps. The eggs were deposited under the basking spot which also acts as a shelter/hide. I'm not sure what the temps were beneath the surface.

 

[Spankenstyne]

Congrats. That is very cool. Love seeing CB russians. What are your enclosure temps? Do you do anything different from summer to winter? Do your adults ever go outside? Where are you?

Lets learn from this awesome event.

Thanks. My hot spot surface sits at around 120 at the hottest part and in the 90's in the surrounding area. Underneath in the hide it's low to mid 80's and the cool side gets down to 73-75ish beneath the hide on that side. Most of the ambient temp seems to be hovering around 80.

This last winter I only reduced the photoperiod to 8 hours from the 12/12 I do the rest of the year. That way they had a noticeable seasonal change but was still generally warm enough & I fed only once or twice a week. Previous years I had tried full refrigerator drawer brumation for about 2.5 months and had also tried no brumation at all.
Nothing seemed to make a difference, I would get eggs and would incubate at 86 for months until the basically dissolved but nothing was ever fertile. I chalked it up to the male shooting blanks but it looks like it was either the older of the females having some issues or the male finally figured out how to do it. It was never for lack of effort, he was always after the ladies. Here's a quick clip I made of him going after the oldest girl a few years ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOCGl9miE3I&feature=player_detailpage

As for outside... Normally I try and get them outside in the yard most sunny days throughout the summer but this year I hate to admit that I have had them out less than usual, maybe only a dozen times. I'm up in Canada so I can't really keep them out year round which I would love to be able to do. If I had more land I could make more of a permanent outside area with a brumation hut but it can get -30 and colder here at times in the winter & just isn't feasible for me.