Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[callmechook]

I'm gettng another crestie this week, an adult female and she will go in with my 2 yr old male as soon as . I've got a big exo terra with eco earth in the bottom topped with spagnum and live and fake plants in there as well as vines and branches. Pyro has been very happy so far on that setup but do I need to add anything extra for a breeding pair, ie, a laying box etc, so that the new girlie feels at home? xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Goose]

i think with an eco eath substrate you may find she lays her eggs in that, rather than in any nest box you provide. Probably better to replace the substrate and add a laying box of ecoearth to make finding eggs easier.
_________________
Tom



peace, love and captive breeding

[callmechook]

Yeah I did think about that but as I would have to remove all the live plants I was thinking about laying a mesh over the top to stop her digging. xxxxxxxxxxx

[Goose]

sounds like a good plan!
_________________
Tom



peace, love and captive breeding

[Cleef]

I've been thinking about similar things for when I breed my cresties. I'm going to just let them lay directly into the substrate (peat moss/coco fibre mix) and see how I get on, I like the naturalistic setup too much. I think it would be possible to make a more 'obvious' nesting site for the females too by using more cover in certain areas (like cork bark hides), but maybe that's wishful thinking
_________________
Steve P

[Jackie]

I tried lots of different methods regarding substrates and laying boxes when I bred Cresteds. I found that whatever you provided the female would lay where she wanted regardless. The best thing that worked for me, was to provide a layer of eco-earth (say 1 - 2 inches deep) throughout the whole of the viv and provide a laying box too (filled with moist sphagnum moss). I kept the bottom of the viv clutter free so I could see where the females had been digging. Here's a photo of their breeding/laying set-up:



Also I didn't keep my male in with the females on a permanent basis. I would put him in the females viv for a week to ten days and then remove him. I found that this is enough to get a full seasons worth of fertile eggs. I'm sure others do things different but this way worked (and still works well for my other reptiles) very well for me.

Something else for you to consider, are you going to quarantine your new Crested before you introduce the pair? I only ask as you say you want to put them together "as soon as".

Hope this helps.
_________________
Best wishes, Jackie

3:4 Eublepharis macularius
1:0 Gekko gecko
3:4:1 R. auriculatus
1:3 R. ciliatus
1:1 R. chahoua
1:1 R. leachianus henkeli

[callmechook]

Yes she will go into quarantine when she arrives, although she is from a known source, more to check shes ready than anything. I like the natural idea too and think I might go with a similar setup tbh the substrate is in already and its shouldn't be too hard to see where digging has been going on.

I wanted a few ideas as it with be a first breeding season for me so you just confirmed what I hoped might work, should, Jackie thank you (and for the pic which is extremely helpful) Will be going to pick her up tomorrow so its quite exciting atm as we lost the sub female we had to a cat attack and I had resigned myself to not having babies this year at all.

Hope you will all wish them luck and I'll be able to post you some pics of new baby cresties in the not too distant future Quick pic of the future pair, Pyro and Willow xxxxxxxxxxxxxx