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It s hatching!!! There s nothing more exciting for a herper than to check their incubator and discover an egg with a head sticking out!! The very first thing I do every morning is to check our eggs and pregnant snakes, and I still get a thrill when I see breeding success! It s something that every true herper feels, a feeling that never leaves you no matter how many times you witness it. At our facility, here in the Hill Country north of San Antonio, Texas, we are producing over 300 reptiles a week this time of year. Eastern spotted turtles (C. guttata), Bearded dragons (P. vitticeps), Leopard geckos (E. macularius), Corn snakes (E. guttata), Hognose snakes (H. nasicus), King snakes (L. getula), Milk snakes (L. triangulum), Sand boas (E. colubrinus & E. johnii) and more are greeting us this summer. Tremper Tips 1) Never open a lizard or snake thinking the baby cannot get out on its own. Such a practice always ends up with bad results. Good eggs hatch - so be patient. But opening a turtle or tortoise egg 7-10 days too early usually does not kill the baby. Just be careful not to let flies reach the egg. I do not like the practice of cutting open ball python eggs early, but some breeders would disagree. 2) Be sure to check the moisture of your Perlite or Vermiculite towards the end of incubation. If it is too dry or you see dents forming in the eggs then spray the inside walls of the egg container, but do not spray the eggs directly. 3) Baby chameleons, such as C. calyptratus, take extra time to emerge once they slit the egg. This extra time is risky as it gives tiny flies a chance to lay their eggs on the chameleon s eye, which results in death as the fly maggot develops. 4) When it comes to newly hatched baby lizards, do not offer live insects for the first 3 days, since the neonates have enough yolk to last and go through their first shin shed. Feeding too early may allow extra insects to injure your baby reptiles, in their quest for food and water. 5) Larger reptile eggs like those from pythons and monitor lizards need a large amount of air space in their incubation container. Since the need for more air and gas exchange through the eggshell is greatest as the eggs reaches full term, it is necessary to lift the container lid daily or to provide larger air holes. 6) Make sure you have a good temperature controller for your incubator. And provide a back up system incase the primary temperature control fails. This means extra cost, but the first time you lose precious fertile eggs to such a problem you will be glad to make safety a priority. If you are using a light bulb for your heat source to hatch eggs, try to use two smaller wattage bulbs incase one bulb burns out. 7) If you keep several bearded dragons together or in a group, you must feed them twice a day or the dominant young will begin to bite the toes and tail tips of their cage mates. Watch for such aggression and be sure to size sort the group as needed. 8) An easy way to deliver drinking water to chameleons and bearded dragons is to place 2-3 ice cubes on the screen top over a plant or dish. By the time the droplet of water reaches the reptile it is room temperature. This saves installing expensive drip or spray systems. 9) Many people ask, how can I get rid of mold on my eggs? The answer is, you cannot.
The mold is caused when an embryo has died and so you will see the decay on the outside of the eggshell. The mold does not come first and then kill the baby inside. 10)Reptile eggs can be turned safely during the first 5 days after being laid and the last 5 days before hatching. Do not turn eggs during most of the incubation period. This often causes the yolk to crush the developing baby. You can make a small mark on the egg with a wax pencil so that you can always see which side should be up. Over the years, I have found that raising baby herps to a bigger size before selling them helps a lot. It gives the breeder a chance to see the full color or health of their young and it also allows the reptiles to travel and adjust better to their new homes. Respect, Ron Tremper June14, 2013 It is normal for reptiles to stop feeding after being moved. For instance, when I move a leopard gecko from one part of my building to another cage situation they will almost always stop eating. So it is not so much the distance traveled but the change of environment that causes the feeding problems. So be aware and expect some few days for any species of herp to acclimate to a new home. Here at my reptile ranch in Texas, we are excited about some new leopard geckos that we are making here and also by other top breeders. I have combined the Blood morph (which is a red hypo tangerine variation) with my Emerine lines. The results are some of the most beautiful geckos I have seen. Also, the new White and Yellow combination morphs are outstanding when mixed with the Raptor or Galaxy genetics. I will be doing shows in Japan, Florida, California and Illinois this season. I wish you all great success for 2013 and hope to see you at an Expo soon. Blood Emerine by Ron Tremper
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