Checked the incubator this morning to see some baby black and white tegus. These little guys are already eating crickets right out of the egg. They are very curious little creatures tentatively inspecting and licking. Click here to see pictures of the parents.
Just showing contrast between a female blue cross tegu to this deep red male tegu. Today on Father's Day I figured I would do some outdoor work which reminded me of my father and grandfather. After drinking 1.5 gallons of water on this 90+ degree Florida day I almost finished this 8'x8'x3' enclosure. I'm trying something a bit different and that is to build a hide that is partially underground. The hide is roughly 2 feet deep, 4 feet long and 3 feet wide. I used the cut hardware cloth at the bottom and cemented the edges to the interior wall. I will fill in some dirt on the bottom and fill the rest with hay and mulch. I have to admit that even digging this relatively small hole was pretty tough work. Anyway, it was a good work out even though it didn't come out as perfect as I would have liked, I'm sure the tegus won't mind.
Hanging out with my blue cross male I call Omega. Even though I keep him outdoors he's still pretty chill.
One of my female blue cross tegus laid eggs this past Saturday 5/3/14. Very nice nest building techniques used by this female and some pearly white beautiful eggs.
As it is tegu breeding season found this article interesting. It was late in the afternoon and this female blue cross began working hard at gathering the fresh leaves into her nest. It's funny how she starts in all the corners and pushes them back to the nest.
My black and white tegu female laid over 40 eggs but unfortunately all were infertile. As you can see the eggs are all dented in the nest. I did put them in the incubator for a week even though I knew they were bad just to be 100% sure. She built a beautiful large nest and spent about 5 days constructing it and laid the eggs while daytime temps were in the 80's and high humidity. This is the second year she laid infertile eggs even after watching her mate with a proven male. Hopefully my other females will have better luck.
My trio of adult red tegus are still pretty lazy and not eating much, but as you can see they can afford to skip a meal or five. Also all still have thick shed, so maybe after they relieve themselves of it they'll be more active.
Here are some pics of a trio of blues who all still have some winter shed to get rid of. I'll try and post some pics after to see their true colors. Hopefully they breed this year, as the females both look very round in the mid section and the young male is down to his fighting weight for breeding season.
Saw the male dragging the female around trying to breed. I didn't see full lock up but it's not his first rodeo so I'm sure they have or will. Big male tegu on the hunt for his females. He smelled the food but wasn't as interested as he normally is as I'm sure his mind is elsewhere.
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Hector's Habitat
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