CNorton
Avid Member
I've finally gotten around to documenting this clutch laid on June 19, 2010.
Tylene (ponders) was gracious enough to mate her veteran male named Malachite to my female, Alba. You can read more at this thread; The Copulation.
After about 6 weeks and nearly 20 grams of egg weight, Alba dropped 22 eggs. It took her 4 days of digging, during which I left her alone all day every day in an inescapable bin mixed with sand, soil, branches, and a planted pothos. The laying bin only had a weak household incandescent bulb which provided almost no heat. The sand/soil mixture was moistened until I could dig a small hole without it collapsing on itself. The mixture was 12 inches deep and the eggs were laid at the very bottom. Perhaps a deeper digging medium would be better.
Alba was relentless about digging for those 4 days. I did not attempt to feed or hydrate her. The first 2 days she continued to dig well past lights out. She seemed to prefer the area closest to the pothos plant, under the leaves, and in the actual root structure of the plant. This, in my opinion, was a significant discovery.
As you can see the eggs are about 5/8 inch in size. They were all laid in one big clump together. I excavated the eggs the day after I noticed a significant size change in my female...I only checked on her after lights out. Digging by hand is the easiest and most safe method in my opinion.
I will be updating this thread with incubation info in the future.
Tylene (ponders) was gracious enough to mate her veteran male named Malachite to my female, Alba. You can read more at this thread; The Copulation.
After about 6 weeks and nearly 20 grams of egg weight, Alba dropped 22 eggs. It took her 4 days of digging, during which I left her alone all day every day in an inescapable bin mixed with sand, soil, branches, and a planted pothos. The laying bin only had a weak household incandescent bulb which provided almost no heat. The sand/soil mixture was moistened until I could dig a small hole without it collapsing on itself. The mixture was 12 inches deep and the eggs were laid at the very bottom. Perhaps a deeper digging medium would be better.
Alba was relentless about digging for those 4 days. I did not attempt to feed or hydrate her. The first 2 days she continued to dig well past lights out. She seemed to prefer the area closest to the pothos plant, under the leaves, and in the actual root structure of the plant. This, in my opinion, was a significant discovery.
As you can see the eggs are about 5/8 inch in size. They were all laid in one big clump together. I excavated the eggs the day after I noticed a significant size change in my female...I only checked on her after lights out. Digging by hand is the easiest and most safe method in my opinion.
I will be updating this thread with incubation info in the future.
