Better late than never

[Allan]

Hi
Since we moved to Cairns a few years back, our SA Womas have refused to mate. I thought the hot climate was to blame, but decided to try something different last year. During a holiday to Alice Springs, I brought home a huge load of red sand.Out with the newspaper and in with the sand. The female started to dig after a few minutes and kept digging for a week. She got a little bit of help from me and made a perfect burrow. In with the male and they didn't leave the burrow for 3 months. The result hatched a few weeks back, very late. Little Woma hatchlings are IMO the prettiest of all hatchlings, I might be a bit biased though.

 

[NickGeee]

Congrats!
How wet was the sand for them to burrow?

 

[SteveNT]

That sand looks completely unconsolidated. How do they stop the burrow from collapsing?

oh and bloody good thinking cobber!

 

[Thyla]

I am a firm believer of replicating their natural environment/habitat to bring out the breeding instincts of any animal. Congratulations on the hatchlings!

 

[Allan]

The depth of the sand was app. 20cm, so I filled a small (less than 20cm height) cardboard box with the sand and buried it. The female then excavated it herself. She dug day and night for a couple of days.

 

[sharky]

They are gorgeous! Some of the prettiest SA's I have ever seen!!! Well done

 

[Allan]

They are gorgeous! Some of the prettiest SA's I have ever seen!!! Well done

Thanks. The male is pretty average except for a very yellow head. The female is very light, almost blonde, stunning (I'm definitely biased)

 

[Barrett]

Awesome job, makes me want to add a 'sand pit' for my woma

 

[thals]

They are beautiful, congrats on your efforts with them! It's amazing to think just how important something as seemingly trivial as substrate can be for them. It definitely pays to mimic the animal's natural environment as much as possible especially if you want to see them display natural behaviour & feel secure. Once again, well done! Gotta love those little pale heads and fierce eyebrows hehe 8)

 

[reb01]

The good old red sand did the trick....Have they mated before the move up there...Woma hatchies the prettiest,well im going to agree to a certain point, Aspidities hatchlings are the best..my personal preference would be BHPs,but Womas are stunning also...Great stuff...

 

[Xeaal]

What gorgeous bubs! They really are a bit different and very pretty. Congratulations

 

[deebo]

thats awesome! she maternally incubated? Ive always wanted to try maternal incubation with bhps and thought the only way would be way to make a fake burrow out of sand and let them do it that way.

p.s. baby womas are the best!

 

[disintegratus]

Nawww, little Slimeys!!! (Not because they're slimey , but because Woma hatchlings always remind of Slimey from Sesame Street.)

 

[Tobe404]

Congrats on the babies mate. Bet it made all the hard work and patience worth it.

I stopped using newspaper the second I noticed the ink smudges when wet.
Cleaning out one day and in a wet patch of newspaper the ink was smudging my fingers.

 

[caleb96]

Nice work mate i'm guessing she incubated the eggs herself how many did you get?
Also iv heard lots of people say that sand can be a big issue when it comes to feeding time did you feed you woma's in there enclosures? And where did you get the sand from and how much i really like the idea of the burrow and would love to give my woma's a nice desert them

Caleb.

 

[Allan]

Nice work mate i'm guessing she incubated the eggs herself how many did you get?
Also iv heard lots of people say that sand can be a big issue when it comes to feeding time did you feed you woma's in there enclosures? And where did you get the sand from and how much i really like the idea of the burrow and would love to give my woma's a nice desert them

Caleb.

No, they were incubated in the incubator. I was tempted to leave them with her, but in the end decided not to. I filled four 50L bags with sand from outside Alice Springs during a holiday. You can buy the red sand from landscaping outlets, but it's quite expensive from what I've heard.