Tallulah Belle

[cvalda]

Tallulah Belle laid more eggs today!

She laid her first clutch on 8-21 - all non-fertile. She laid the second clutch of 28 eggs on 9-1 (17 are incubating still/15 look fertile).

This is her third clutch. She started acting like she wanted to lay on Monday but didn't want anything to do with the nesting box. Tuesday she dropped an egg in her enclosure. Yesterday again didn't want to dig at all. Someone suggested the soil was too cool, so I heated it over night with basking lamps all over it, and this morning put her in and she got right to nesting! That must've been it! So today she laid 27 - 21 are incubating as the other six were collapsed. I'd say 25 of these look good on first glance but we'll see in about a week!

 

[Crazy1]

Wow Kelly, congratulations. cant wait to see little tallula Belle Jrs.

 

[Josh]

congrats kelly and tallulah belle! keep us posted on how they progress! p.s. where are the photos?!

 

[cvalda]

do you think i take pics of EVERYTHING?!?!

lol um... well....

Okay I'll get pics of the eggs later. Here's all I have for now...

This is Tallulah Belle digging her nest (almost complete!) ROFL!!!!!

Here's a pic of Tallulah Belle when she was gravid:

And this is gorgeous yellow daddy Triton, ever the inquisitive fellow!

 

[Josh]

ahahahah you never disappoint!
that male is beautiful! and look at that nest! does it take a long time for her to dig it?

 

[cvalda]

I aim to please!

You know, they really dig the nest fairly quick, although that is the most thorough job I've seen her do!!! The whole process took her about 3-4 hours (digging, laying 27 eggs, and then burying).

 

[Laura]

With her laying so frequently.. is that normal?
How much calcium do yo have to give her?
Do they normally keep laying or since the eggs are removed or not fertile ( do they know) do they keep laying till they get it right? I guess they dont know huh....
Dragon Virgin here.. NO CLUE what is normal..

 

[cvalda]

Laura, it varies with the dragon, as well as the dragon's age and how many years she's been laying. They can lay eggs as close as two weeks apart, and up to around 7 clutches this way. Generally the first year that they lay (at about 18 months old) they'll lay around 3 clutches, then they're second laying year will be up to 7, and then each year after it'll go down to less and less and usually by 5 - 7 years, stops altogether. I haven't had Tallulah Belle long and the previous owner could only give me an age guestimate, and he knew that one of his three girls laid last summer but wasn't sure who, so I'm willing to be it was Tallulah, and this is her most fertile year for laying, so I won't be surprised if I see several more clutches...

 

[cvalda]

here's this batch of eggs. you can see the two i think are likely not fertile - the two yellowy-browny ones - but i'll incubate them until they prove one way or the other, 'cause i've got some odd colored ones in my other clutch... also the pale yellow one on far right doesn't look totally bad, but i'm not sure on that one - that is one she dropped after i put her back into her enclosure (after she did her whole nesting and burying thing and proclaimed herself done!)

 

[Crazy1]

Wow Kelly those are some great pics. What type of substrate do you keep them on? Is that bead a beast and sand in her laying box or is she on that all the time?

 

[cvalda]

it's soil and sand in the nesting box. i keep them on tile, newspaper, or shelving liner in their regular enclosures - no partical substrates for them outside of the nesting box!

 

[james]

nice pics! do you intentionaly breed them? i want to breed in the next several years or so. just gotta get the space and time.

 

[cvalda]

well i didn't intentially breed her, she came that way! actually, first i took in a couple of groups of adult dragons, sorta like rescues but in trade for torts, with the intention of breeding them. all the females had been housed with males, and so several were gravid when they came.

but then as i learned more, turns out most of the females wouldn't be good breeding candidates. so i got my younger dragons to breed next spring hopefully.

but that doesn't stop some of those adults from laying anyway, even tho i never have put them with males, they're still laying from their previous home! Tallulah is the only one laying fertile eggs, though.

 

[Redfootedboxturtles]

That is very cool. Bearded dragons are probably the best lizard pet ever. ( I still <3 my Tegu)