repto

try a sheet of glass,say one metre square and prop it up with bricks etc at each corner so its just below the surface,they don`t like this at all!!

keep feeding her up with the best tucker you can find,small fish with bones etc ,minced lean oxheart with calcium added etc,when she stops eating she is full of eggs ,the better food you give her the more eggs and the more chance they will be viable.Get all your hatching stuff ready now rather than later when you need it!

not wanting to tell you what to do or anything but these critters like and need abit of humidity(you did say water d`s?)looks a tad on the dry side in there and you could run to a bit more water perhaps?

I can beat that,my beardy ate a water dragon,well not quite but thats what he was trying to do.actually probably would have choked on it if i hadn`t found him,they were about the same size but the beardys mouth being bigger and wider....????

might have just gulped abit of air and having ballast problems,try not to stress it out too much and see if it will clear on its own?nothing a few good farts won`t fix?

who`s fantastic?me or the lizard?ha ha

yes,you take them out replace with new ones and put the covered ones in your hatching place.i change mine once a week.

yes,you take them out replace with new ones and put the covered ones in your hatching place.

yes,you take them out replace with new ones and put the covered ones in your hatching place.

only if your medium is too wet,they have a foam plug that is usually covered with sand,I like the clear cups cause you can often see the eggs down the sides.you can tip the top layer of sand away slowly and you will see the foam plugs like little chimmneys sticking up if you want,i sometimes check like this when not many adults getting to the end of their cycle don`t lay as many eggs,not much use waiting for empty cups to hatch babies?

you don`t want alot of humidity,these are desert locusts?you need warm temps of 32 -35 to get them to lay fertile eggs.for egg laying medium you can use vermiculite or sand,i have tried both and get better results with sand.The sand to get is propagating pumice sand from mitre 10 etc.Moisten it till its damp but not ringing wet and put it in small plastic see through coffee cups etc,you can use the polystyrene ones but I find the clear ones better as you can often see the eggs down the sides of the cup if you rotate it.positioning of the cups is also important,they should be flush with the bottom of the cage,you can have little holes cutout and fit the cups into these but must have room underneath,I have mine in a shallow cardboard box to acheive this,it covers half the floor area so its easy for them to get up on it and thereby think its ground level,a cup sitting on its own is too hard for them to climb up onto and you will get eggs laid willy nilly all over the place where they will dry out and be no good.change your egg cups as often as you find eggs but you can end up with heaps of them so I do 6 once a week,cover them with gladwrap and a rubber band,when they hatch you can put the container straight into the rearing cage or if you do it like me you get more babies if you recover it after each hatching(they dry out too fast once uncovered)

do you drink tui by any chance?

the texas were actually bred at the auckland zoo(males)most of the stuff up there has been confiscated and did not fit into the zoos `plans` so were rehomed up there,even the female leopards come to the zoo by that means but the male was owned by the lady from dunedin

for a decent sized enclosure glass is totally impractical other than for your viewing side.the weight and even heat loss etc.imo anyway not that means alot?>?

yeah,heard about the hair and the tortoise?

I think he`s just teasing us Mark?

give us a pic?would like to know the breed and sex?

handling them? I can`t get near enough to get a hand on my buggers???

one animal that gives me pleasure to kill is a rat,brother in Aussie has had them take lizards from his outdoor pits.

just get a thermostat and set it to x degrees,when it gets up there heaters switch off?save a bit of power too.I have one in my garage which gets really hot,when it hits 30 at roof level the heaters all shut off.

SPCA would have a field day on this one??

we get the gisborne ones can send you a few if you want?there are a heap of the buggers living in the swimming pool filter box,the heat of the motor going keeps it warm for them.give me your adress etc

I have had eggs that collapsed like that and they were still good,just got a bit dry towards the end,you can rehydrate them if this is the case by draping a wet paper towel over them and moistening the substrate,something that comes with experience,on the other hand I have had eggs that swelled up from too much water and even burst.ateaspoon or two of water warmed in the palm of your hand and sprinkled over the egg would not hurt,followed by the damp towel,check if they fill out a bit after a day or so.

I just use a selection of smallish jars from marmite to peanut butter etc and pick my grass by the handful cutting off neatly with a knife and wrap a rubber band around it and stuff it into the apropriate sized jar of water,after a while youget to know how much for how many and use the right sized bunches/jars.they eat it down flush with the jar top if they get pushed so there is a little waste but hey,grass is cheap?Careful where you get your grass too as even traces of insecticide etc can render your locusts sterile while not actually killing them.Around here there are alot of orchards so I have to be careful,up auckland you have kikuia which is good for them and easy to find as it warms up,you can pick it ahead and store in the fridge for a few days.

probably will work but not really practical when they get bigger and you are getting your grass in and out and they all get out....a big cardboard carton with a light bulb for heat and plastic taped front, cutout side entry door flap for your hand/ram to go through and block most off would be cheap and a lot better (a la biosuppliers) what temp have you got it at? Go for 30+, whats in the dishes? All you need is your grass and a small dish of bran, no water no laying medium till they get their wings and start mating.Thought of you this morning, saw a big fat roach with an egg case on its butt, fed it to my beardy.