We Won! We Won!

What did we win? Well, it probably isn't exactly everyone's idea of lottery, but we won a baby Argentine Tegu. They are wonderfully delightful creatures that we use in our educational presentations. He's only 8 inches long and bright green, but soon he'll be 3-4ft and weigh over 6 pounds! We entered an essay contest sponsored by a tegu breeder. The topic was proper care of tegus and the winner would receive a new hatchling for the price of shipping. That was a savings of close to $200 for us. If you would like to read our essay and learn more about tegus, here is the link:
http://www.zoomomscience.com/teguarticle.htm

Our photos show our new hatchling, Kreacher, at three weeks of age, and Blizzard, a 4yo tegu.

Our cup runneth over!

Returning from the Keys (our home away from home), we knew we would have some baby reptiles hatching soon. Sure enough, when I peeked into the incubator, there were 6 baby bearded dragons crawling around and 3 or 4 baby corn snakes coiled around the eggs. Snakes are funny little hatchlings. They slit the egg with their egg tooth, poke their head out, then dart back inside for a day or two until they are quite sure it is safe to come out. Within three days, however, we had 11 new little serpents slithering in little homes of their own (and 19 little dragons). Unfortunately, one did not live beyond the three day mark, but sometimes that happens with animals that have many young. The others are quite healthy, and the coloration is a bright as we expected it would be!

New Projectsssss

Sssimply ssspectacular, our newest breeding project involves corn snakes. The male (left) is a Sunglow from the stock of famous breeder Kathy Love (Cornutopia) and the female (right) is a high red albino similar to the Sunglow in that she has very little white markings.

Congratulations!! It's a...lizard

Hatching day is here and we're checking the incubator a couple of times each day for new little heads popping out of eggs. The first baby bearded dragon is already out and in a new cage, but three of his friends are still deciding on the best plan of action. Here's a morning shot of the sleeping beauties as well as one shot of the early bird!

Because they are nourished so well by their yolk sac, they may not eat for a couple of days. Then they'll be offered plenty of leafy vegetables, flower petals, and small crickets appropriately named "pinheads". We'll keep them for approximately 4 weeks before finding them happy new homes.

Eggciting News!

Boo's eggs are incubating nicely at 84 degrees. Interestingly, some had a different appearance this year and were not as white as they usually were. Some seemed to have thin shells, so her diet is being supplemented with a little more calcium than normal and she's getting a little extra sunlight to help her metabolize that calcium. The babies stay inside their protective shells for about 70 days, and are due to hatch May 5th. There is not much for the humans to do at this point except to monitor temperature and humidity levels inside the incubator. Vermiculite is the soft gray bedding for the eggs; useful because it holds water yet allows air to circulate around the eggs. If the eggs start to collapse, it's a sign of water loss. If they swell too much, we leave the lid off of the container for some water to evaporate. As hatching day draws near, the eggs will dimple and collapse a few days before the lizards hatch out. Stay tuned!

Romeo, Romeo, Wherefore art thou, Romeo?

Aren't they beautiful?! Here is our first pair to have a clutch of eggs this year. Mom is in the grass and her name is Boo. Mr. B.D. is on a table posing like a pro. They have been breeding successfully for us for a few years now. Here are some facts about Beardie eggs:

*We must provide the perfect soil for her to lay her eggs. She prefers a 50/50 mix of organic potting soil and the black sandy loam we have here in Central Florida. It must be wet enough to stick together when she tunnels underneath. We fill a 10 gallon aquarium with about 6 inches of the soil and she faithfully digs a tunnel-like hole to safely lay her eggs. She must not be disturbed or she will stop digging. But like a sea turtle, once she begins to lay, she is committed.
*We watch her carefully and remove the eggs before she covers them. She's not very gentle during this process and has smashed some eggs with her pointy nose as she packs the dirt in tight. She usually never notices they are gone and will automatically fill her empty hole!!
*We incubate the eggs at 80-84 degrees in a Styrofoam incubator for approximately 70 days. We are conservative and incubate at lower temperatures, so sometimes our eggs take longer to hatch than the recommended guidelines.

Spring Is In the Air!!

Spring at the Zoo is a noticeable event because a few of the animals become...shall we say...amorous? The Bearded Dragons put on their best black beards, head-bobbing with increased intensity, and the corn snakes grow restless, slithering in their cages continuously. The children who attend our reptile encounters are fascinated with the process of incubation and hatching, always asking questions and wishing we could bring the eggs along for viewing. Since eggs do not travel well, we did the next best thing and decided to bring them to you in the virtual world. This season we will photojournal the experience and update our blog periodically.