Gippsland Water Dragon Q's :)

[Anura.Salientia]

Back in dec i was given a pair of gwd's for xmas (and pair of beardies, i know best xmas ever!!) and since then i have set them up in a more natural environment and sice discovered they are male and female....(Ned and Kelly)
They have been courting for the past few weeks and the last 2 weeks Kelly has been diggin like a crazy woman! I have been softly sifting the dirt and checking for eggs every second day and have bought an incubator just in case she lays and i have only seen the female dig but today i caught the male digging up a few of her holes. If she does lay does the male dig them up and eat them???
I think they have not really had much of a diverse diet before they came to me and have been trying to introduce alot of fruits and veg but not having alot of luck so far...
She does not seem to be protecting any of her digging spots either??
Does anyone know much about these guys? wanting personal experience not google its pretty useless here lol
I have also added a pic of my enclosure and one of them
Thanks in advance xx

 

[Mr.James]

Are you sure she was gravid? If so maybe try limiting the area for her to lay in. Use a mix or coco peat and sand in a small area 100-150mm deep. Make sure its in an area that recieves some warmth and light. Ive never seen a male dig up the eggs and eat them. Try mixing some whiskas jellymeat in with veg/fruit to get them interested. If still no luck try adding some mealworms in the same bowl. This may help.

 

[snakerelocation]

Hi and congrats, either of the physignathus species are beautiful creatures with such personalities, do you have any idear of the age of them, they just look a little young to be breeding, but hard to tell by pics, mine have only ever laid on top of their substrate, and normally behind logs or their water bowl. but each to their own, they dont normally lay untill about 3yr olds,

 

[Mr.James]

Do they appear stressed? I would add some more basking branchs so the can both get heat without being ontop of each other. They do look very young and will out grow that enclosure.

Nothing wrong with keeping them on live food (insects) for a while until they settle down and then move onto a mix of food.

 

[Anura.Salientia]

Hey Mr.James Im not 100% sure she is gravid as they are not real tame they are getting better with trusting me but still not good to pick her up and touch her belly but im taking pics of her every 3 days and i can see she is gaining weight. Thanks for the tip about the whiskas! Unfortunately they hate mealworms big and small! They take a bite and spit them out and then wipe their mouths on a branch as to get the taste off them! They are only just under 3 from what i have been told and after alot of research i am well aware they are going to get big! lol im investing in a bigger outside enclosure for them (saving up now) for when the time comes They dont appear stressed at all but i have added another branch as you said so they can bask side by side
Snakerelocation, thanks they are awesome and agree with the personalities! they freak me out sometimes they are very clever! I hear them digging or eating or whatever and look around to watch and they freeze and just move that one eyeball to look at me as if to say "what you lookin at?!!" lol im so in love with them haha One even stopped mid-yawn!! As i said above they are nearly 3 from what i have been told and again not 100% sure she is def gravid but from what i have read she is showing the signs and displaying the behavior, but thats why i asked for personal experience as google is not a person and id rather get my questions answered from a human lol thanks guys

 

[richardsc]

they are plenty big enough to breed,also gravid females often dig heaps of test holes before finally picking one

 

[Anura.Salientia]

Hi Richardsc yes she is digging a few holes mainly in the corners of the tank but stops digging when even i look at her lol like trying to keep what she is doing a secret! Does anyone how long they are gravid for? there is not much info out there on gwd's, Im new to this i didnt even know that i purchased a male/female combo until i did some research on them! There have been some holes where she has covered them back in and tapped the dirt back down with her nose but they have been empty

 

[richardsc]

i keep mine outside,and eastern waterys,they do the same,lots of test holes,some even refilled,a good way to tell if they have laid is to check females condition,they lose alot of weight when they lay,one other thing is they can also lay unfertilised eggs when havnt been cooled or even if they arent with a male,but normally first clutch is laid in oct or november,2nd clutch dec/jan

 

[Anura.Salientia]

eventually they will go outside when they are a bit bigger but i just want to keep looking at them all the time! haha
well there has been no first clutch yet so maybe she is just getting a bit bigger and not gravid as i thought? I knew it was late in the season but she just seemed to be gaining fast and looking a bit lumpy ill try and get a super close piccy of her