Breeding Tips

[rex]

I'm new to this website and I was wondering if anyone could give me some breeding tips. I have a male Chinese Water Dragon who is 3 years old and is almost turning 4. I was thinking about getting a female soon that was about the same age as him so they could breed. Does anyone have any breeding tips for me?

[Pooka]

Sorry Rex my dragon sare not of breeding age yet so no tips from me. I wanted to say hello and welcome to the board though. I hope you find other posts useful and wise you and your dragon the best.

[dragosmom]

Your female will need to be approx. 18-24 inches. Breeding usually follows their winter cycle. In October you will begin to reduce their photoperiod from 12-14 hrs. daylight to 10-12 hrs. daylight. I reduce 3/4-1 hour per month, Oct-jan and then begin increasing by the same until I'm back to 14. Temperatures are also reduced to 80F maximum daytime and 70F for evening. Males can be really hard on the females so adding 2 will be helpful if you have the room. Your females will also require additional calcium during periods where they can become or are gravid. I recommend calcium glubionate drops-fruit-flavored-my females love it. The process of forming and shelling eggs requires vast quantities of calcium and your female's body will draw it from her bones and system if it is not readily available. Once you have determined she is gravid, she will need to be provided with a suitable laying box or suitable area in the enclosure for egg laying and retrieval for incubation. Good luck! My female laid a clutch this year, but they were infertile. Maybe next year!

[rex]

What would be a suitable laying box and what tempature should I keep the incubation enclosure at?

[dragosmom]

Plastic "shoe" boxes from Dollar General work great for laying boxes AND incubators. The eggs need to incubate buried about 3/4 of the way in sphagnum moss and kept at consistent humidity and temperature about 86F. When you harvest them, you should mark them with an X and not rotate them. A 10 gallon glass aquarium, filled with about five inches of water and heated with a submersible aquarium heater works well. Use a thermometer in the water and place your shoe box on 2 bricks turned sidewise. Another thermometer should be in place to monitor the temperature of the shoe box and eggs. The eggs should not have moisture fall on them. I covered my incubator with a 4" piece of chair foam which absorbed the excess humidity. I could also cut a hole in it for my thermometers so I could check the temps without removing the foam. Add water as required to keep the temp at 86F. BTW, my dragons eggs were not fertile so I don't want to lead you into believing I am certain this set-up will work. I searched the internet for a hime-made incubator and this type of set-up was frequently recommended. eggs incubate for approx. 60 days. Hope this helps.

[prettypoppet]

any thoughts on letting mom incubate the eggs herself? i've been reading that most reptiles make excellent mothers

[Pooka]

I have no idea on the mom incubation... While she is hardcoded with the instincts to provide the best lay site she can she is limited in choice to what we provide her. Her instincts and what we provide in a captive envioroment may differ greatly. I suppose in a very naturalitic vivaria with all the right temps and humidity she would have in the wilds of thai;and and china the chances would be somewhat ok. Keep in mind that the reasons dragons lay so many eggs so often is because the survival/hatch rate is very low in the wild. As to the statement of excellent mothers.... I have to disagree, she may provide them with the best lay site possible but once they are layed they are fair game for lunch items, no further maternal behaviors are observed.