Update on my cute lizard(s)

[SoupHasCookied]

It has been a while hey? Last post was in March! Well, I think it's time I gave a status update on my lizard! So she seems to be happy and healthy now! Shes very calm while being handled (thanks to daily handling no doubt!), very active during the day and eats very well, so far she's doing great! Got her UVB and correct heating, and upped the enclosure size, so now it's nice and big with lots of running space, we also plan on building up more, so they can climb and have 2 floors! As for "they", we also now have a male who joined the family shortly after the madam did, he is incredibly calm, even more than our cute female (probably because he is male, so just more chill?), I actually think he likes getting attention, since he just enjoys being picked up and played with, running around climbing all over you at times (or sometimes just chilling, sitting in your hand like he hasn't got a care in the world!), I have truly fallen in love with these guys.

We have taken them both to an exotic pets vet the other day just for a checkup to make sure all is still well and good (madam is gravid), they said that both looks healthy and the eggs seems to be going along without any issues (nice!)

I plan on trying to breed them as well as creating a website with a complete care guide on how to care and breed them. This is primarily to help others along in the future, since their care is very scarce, and those that exist are either wrong, sketchy or just feels incomplete, at least if I write one I plan on making it as complete and legit as possible, with my experience with them as the backbone (I hope that they will become more popular as pets). I also plan on contributing to their wiki page someday, since it's a little empty right now (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agama_atra)

I have also started breeding dubia roaches and mealworms (much cheaper than buying each month), but I also noticed that they like superworms and silkworms (as a treat). I have read that they also eat some plants, but I could never get mine to take a bite out of any veggies I gave them, so that might either be wrong information or they just prefer insects? Anyhow, they eat well is what my point is!

Also, I am letting them both live in the same enclosure, I read that they live in groups, and they haven't tried to kill each other (I would not recommend housing 2 males together tho, they - the males specifically - do have a hierarchy system from what I understand), so I believe it's all good

Take a look at the pics if you wanna see them! Also any tips/advice from you will also still be appreciated! I am still no pro at reptile keeping

 

[ZEROPILOT]

There are a few types of Agama lizards here in Florida. Including one that is primarily bright red with bright blue. Absolutely beautiful. But I've been unable to catch one yet for a photo. (I originally thought the one on the right in your picture was a Uromastyx)
One tip I can give you is that they LOVE to hide in crevices and holes. And they really like pipes or tubes. Like at construction sites.
I'd make the substrate with regular earth and provide a few sections of PVC pipe for their well being. It'd also maybe stimulate their hunting instinct to search for a loose insect here or there.
They appear to be heavy baskers and heat loving from what I've seen. Often seen stretched out across a scalding hot sidewalk or section of the road.
Where do you see them in Africa?

 

[SoupHasCookied]

There are a few types of Agama lizards here in Florida. Including one that is primarily bright red with bright blue. Absolutely beautiful. But I've been unable to catch one yet for a photo. (I originally thought the one on the right in your picture was a Uromastyx)
One tip I can give you is that they LOVE to hide in crevices and holes. And they really like pipes or tubes. Like at construction sites.
I'd make the substrate with regular earth and provide a few sections of PVC pipe for their well being. It'd also maybe stimulate their hunting instinct to search for a loose insect here or there.
They appear to be heavy baskers and heat loving from what I've seen. Often seen stretched out across a scalding hot sidewalk or section of the road.
Where do you see them in Africa?

Thanks for the tip! I'll look into getting them a few hiding holes, I have noticed that they liked squeezing between small spaces

By regular earth, do you mean like rocks and sand? If so I hear (at least with bearded dragon) that sand-like substrate is not good for them, so I generally stay away from it :')

I have never seen one in the wild, but my dad often sees them at his work, standing on rocks, basking in the sun, I do hear that they appear in the Karoo (I hear they're everywhere here), Zambia, Durban, West and Northern Cape, basically all around, spotting them is usually the hard part, since they often hide as soon as anyone comes close

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Thanks for the tip! I'll look into getting them a few hiding holes, I have noticed that they liked squeezing between small spaces

By regular earth, do you mean like rocks and sand? If so I hear (at least with bearded dragon) that sand-like substrate is not good for them, so I generally stay away from it :')

I have never seen one in the wild, but my dad often sees them at his work, standing on rocks, basking in the sun, I do hear that they appear in the Karoo (I hear they're everywhere here), Zambia, Durban, West and Northern Cape, basically all around, spotting them is usually the hard part, since they often hide as soon as anyone comes close

Same here. They run very fast.
As far as substrate goes, I'd just use something more natural than newspaper. But sand can be harmful. Gravel would trap waste and start to stink. Maybe mulch or Orchid bark?

 

[Tom]

By regular earth, do you mean like rocks and sand? If so I hear (at least with bearded dragon) that sand-like substrate is not good for them, so I generally stay away from it.

Not sand, but regular yard dirt from outside. That female is going to need a deep layer of it to lay her eggs. She could get egg bound and die if there is not a suitable (to her...) laying area.

 

[SoupHasCookied]

Same here. They run very fast.
As far as substrate goes, I'd just use something more natural than newspaper. But sand can be harmful. Gravel would trap waste and start to stink. Maybe mulch or Orchid bark?

Bark might be a good idea, something big enough that they can't swallow, I was actually also thinking maybe decorating the enclosure with flat rocks, but that might bring the humidity up :')

Not sand, but regular yard dirt from outside. That female is going to need a deep layer of it to lay her eggs. She could get egg bound and die if there is not a suitable (to her...) laying area.

She is actually laying the eggs as we speak! When we first got her she had a few infertile eggs (that's when we realised it was a she and not a he haha) and just had them while sitting on one of the rocks (I just thought she was fat until that day), so luckily I learned from that got it covered! This will be our first batch of fertile eggs, I'm going to try and care for them as if they were bearded dragon eggs and see what the results are
I did buy an incubator (from a reptile breeder no less) as well as vermiculite and and a nice container
Let's hope all those guides online on bearded dragon breeding translates well to these guys, then we should have babies within a few months! A wonderful new learning experience, let's hope I get it right the first time around!

 

[Tom]

Bark might be a good idea, something big enough that they can't swallow, I was actually also thinking maybe decorating the enclosure with flat rocks, but that might bring the humidity up :')


She is actually laying the eggs as we speak! When we first got her she had a few infertile eggs (that's when we realised it was a she and not a he haha) and just had them while sitting on one of the rocks (I just thought she was fat until that day), so luckily I learned from that got it covered! This will be our first batch of fertile eggs, I'm going to try and care for them as if they were bearded dragon eggs and see what the results are
I did buy an incubator (from a reptile breeder no less) as well as vermiculite and and a nice container
Let's hope all those guides online on bearded dragon breeding translates well to these guys, then we should have babies within a few months! A wonderful new learning experience, let's hope I get it right the first time around!

Some notes on that:
1. If it were me, I would do a ratio of 1 : 1 water to vermiculite by weight for these eggs. That works well for most tortoise species, with a stable exception being Russians which need dry incubation media, but high humidity in the incubator. Your climate is different than bearded dragon climate.
2. I hope they hatch, but if they don't show development, after a month or so of incubation temps, you might try gradually cooling them and give the eggs a diapause. So many reptiles from your climate seem to need this. They lay in spring or summer, and the eggs stay under ground where they must experience a cool winter, before they can begin development in late spring the next year when temps warm back up. Without this diapause, the eggs will not develop. Turn the incubator down gradually little by little over the space of a couple of weeks, then a week at room temp, then 4-6 weeks in a wine cooler somewhere around 10-15C. Then a week or two of cool room temp, then gradually warming back up to incubation temps. I've had good success with South African leopard tortoise eggs putting them into a regular fridge for 6-8 weeks at 5-6C. Due to the shallow depth of the nest of this lizard, I'll bet that might work for these too.

I hope we get to see babies! That would be awesome.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

This is the brightly colored Agama species that I see pretty often in the southwestern part of my area.
Certainly from the pet trade. Probably in the 1980s.
This is not my own photo. It's from the internet. Definitely the same animal. Though it seems the ones I've seen are more red than blue

 

[Tom]

This is the brightly colored Agama species that I see pretty often in the southwestern part of my area.
Certainly from the pet trade. Probably in the 1980s.
This is not my own photo. It's from the internet. Definitely the same animal. Though it seems the ones I've seen are more red than blue

I saw one of those near Fort Meyers. I could not believe the colors. Even counting chameleons and every other lizard, I have never seen something so vibrant, rich and bright with colors. I tried to get a pic, but that lizard wasn't letting me get anywhere near it.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I saw one of those near Fort Meyers. I could not believe the colors. Even counting chameleons and every other lizard, I have never seen something so vibrant, rich and bright with colors. I tried to get a pic, but that lizard wasn't letting me get anywhere near it.

Yeah
They're like neon colored lightning bolts.
I almost caught one a few years ago. He ran into a plastic pipe next to my old work station. I picked up the pipe and he shot out of the other end.
I needed a net.
They are absolutely beautiful.

 

[SoupHasCookied]

Some notes on that:
1. If it were me, I would do a ratio of 1 : 1 water to vermiculite by weight for these eggs. That works well for most tortoise species, with a stable exception being Russians which need dry incubation media, but high humidity in the incubator. Your climate is different than bearded dragon climate.
2. I hope they hatch, but if they don't show development, after a month or so of incubation temps, you might try gradually cooling them and give the eggs a diapause. So many reptiles from your climate seem to need this. They lay in spring or summer, and the eggs stay under ground where they must experience a cool winter, before they can begin development in late spring the next year when temps warm back up. Without this diapause, the eggs will not develop. Turn the incubator down gradually little by little over the space of a couple of weeks, then a week at room temp, then 4-6 weeks in a wine cooler somewhere around 10-15C. Then a week or two of cool room temp, then gradually warming back up to incubation temps. I've had good success with South African leopard tortoise eggs putting them into a regular fridge for 6-8 weeks at 5-6C. Due to the shallow depth of the nest of this lizard, I'll bet that might work for these too.

I hope we get to see babies! That would be awesome.

It's been a while, but it seems that the eggs are really starting to shine! They are bigger, white, and you can see babies when you flash a light under them! I will be seeing about the diapause you speak of once some time has passed and see what happens!

This is the brightly colored Agama species that I see pretty often in the southwestern part of my area.
Certainly from the pet trade. Probably in the 1980s.
This is not my own photo. It's from the internet. Definitely the same animal. Though it seems the ones I've seen are more red than blue

WOW! that is absolutely stunning!

 

[Tom]

I will be seeing about the diapause you speak of once some time has passed and see what happens!

Diapause happens BEFORE incubation. If you are seeing embryonic development in the eggs, then diapause was not necessary.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I saw one of those near Fort Meyers. I could not believe the colors. Even counting chameleons and every other lizard, I have never seen something so vibrant, rich and bright with colors. I tried to get a pic, but that lizard wasn't letting me get anywhere near it.

This is from the local news