Eastern and Gippsland water Dragon breeding data needed

[geckodan]

Hi, would anybody have any recorded egg sizes (length x width) and incubation periods for water dragons???

Regards,
Danny

 

[richardsc]

hi dan,my easterns and gippys were pretty much the same egg sizes and clutch sizes,though i never measured there eggs,ive had clutch size vary from 7 to a whopping 16 eggs per clutch with my easterns,incubation varies,but ive left mine in the ground outdoors mostly before bringing them in for incubation,though last year i brought in the first cluthes of 2 easterns and 1 blue phased gippy,incubation was 65 and 72 days for the easterns,and 58 for the gippslands water dragons,temps varied as i incubate them in a snake cage

 

[geckodan]

hi dan,my easterns and gippys were pretty much the same egg sizes and clutch sizes,though i never measured there eggs,ive had clutch size vary from 7 to a whopping 16 eggs per clutch with my easterns,incubation varies,but ive left mine in the ground outdoors mostly before bringing them in for incubation,though last year i brought in the first cluthes of 2 easterns and 1 blue phased gippy,incubation was 65 and 72 days for the easterns,and 58 for the gippslands water dragons,temps varied as i incubate them in a snake cage

Thanks, What were the temperature ranges in that cage Richard ??

 

[richardsc]

quite variable actually dan,thats why i didnt state it,26 to 33 was the range,as its a snake cage kept in my herp room which is an uninsulated tin shed in melb,so room temps seriously flucuate,i have some info from bert langerwerf from the usa,he has bred well over 20 thousand of them,not sure if that info is what you are after though,and wthats just eastern waterdragons,i have a book from here

oh also temperature determines there sex,ive had alot of all male clutches,a couple of mixed sex and i believe the last clutch from last season,is all female,they incubated outdoors for 2 months before i finally found where they were hidden,then incubated indoors for 6 weeks

 

[richardsc]

ok herecare bert langerwerfs findings if there of use
at 27 degrees incubation varied from 68 to 74 days and only males were born
at 28 to 31 degrees incubation varied from 56 to 60 days and only females hatched

he also mentions that peter harlow states that females are also born at 25 degrees or lower

also bert states in his book on clutch size that in 2004 coming from 166 nests the numbers in each clutch varied fom 3 to 14 eggs per clutch the average calculated from those findings per clutch is 7.36 eggs

thats all just for his 2004 season to by the way,for those wondering his hatch rate here are the figures
june 2004147 hatched,july 2004 6275 hatched , august 2004 9201 hatched, september 2004 1845 hatched and october 2004 only 1 hatched,this is the worlds biggest breeder of eastern water dragons,lol,an american

for any one intersted the book is called water dragons
by bert langerwerf
a complete guide to physignathus and more
from t.f.h

excellent book,best on covering eastern water dragons ive seen,but covers green water dragons,sailfin dragons and others

 

[geckodan]

Thanks Richard. I knew about the TSD. THere is some great research on how this influences sex ratio at high altitudes in an article called "Too Chilly for Willys".