Two-lined dragon (Diporiphora bilineata) egg gestation

[CassLobs]

Morning,
My Two-lined dragon laid 4 eggs this morning. It was amazing to watch! How long is the gestation? I've read it's about 80 days but not sure. Anyone ever bred these before? I've never had them so small and I'd like to be prepared should they hatch. Because I live in remote Cape York, I'll need to fly food in. What should I get as their first food? (baby crickets, cockroaches and mealworms?). Do I need to change the temperature in the tank or add anything to assist them?


Thanks
Cass

 

[Piscineidiot]

Don't know of anyone who has bred these before. How big are the eggs?

As far as care of the eggs go, I'd remove them and put them in a small tupperware container with a 1:1 (by weight) mixture of vermiculite and water in the bottom of it, and try to keep it at 30C or thereabouts (not a problem for you, I imagine considering where you're living).

As for feeding the young ones, generally, for small insectivorous lizards, people use young crickets, but that might be difficult for you unless you want to breed them yourself? Crickets don't tend to live a long time in the boxes they come in, particularly young ones, which again, makes things a little difficult for you as you'll need to keep a supply up. You could perhaps try and breed woodies, and feed the smallest ones out to your young ones, but you'd probably need a significant sized colony to provide enough small roaches for your babies. Of the two, woodies are definitely the easiest, cleanest and quietest to maintain, plus, their heads are smaller relative to their bodies, minimizing the risk of impaction in young lizards.

Or, you could probably get by by harvesting wild food? I imagine a white sheet out the front with a white light on it would attract plenty of small insects in no time up North. Then just bundle it up shove it in a container, and into the fridge to kill the little blighters before feeding them out the next day. Never tried it myself, but I suspect it would work.

Sorry I couldn't be of much help. Good luck to you either way.

 

[critterguy]

Didn't even know they were allowed otherwise I would have tried to buy some as they are among my favourites. So sorry, can't be of help, good luck though.

 

[CassLobs]

She ended up having 6. I removed the eggs and put them in a small container. It's 37 degrees here every day so the warmth shouldn't be a problem lol.

Fingers crossed and we'll see how many hatch

- - - Updated - - -

I fly all my live insects and frozen feeders in via qantas each week so I'll order small baby crickets and woodies regularly. Thanks for the info

 

[DanLM]

80 days seems like a bit long, considering Danny Brown's book has other Diporophora species incubations between 48-73 days. Still, it's a possibility. Just remember it might be sooner than you think! Small crickets or roaches should be fine.

 

[butters]

what is in the container with them?