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Post by mark68 on May 8, 2013 7:26:34 GMT
I need to know by midday sunday the 12th of May if anybody wants anything. These reps can be in London the following Wednesday. Please contact me via the website www.dragonfarm.co.ukThe sand lizard is now sold.
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Post by mark68 on May 7, 2013 9:42:49 GMT
Lacerta agilis argus CB12 male (in full breeding colour now) £25.
Gallotia galloti galloti CB12 (unknown sex) £25. Three for £70.
Gallotia galloti galloti CB11 adult pair £60.
Timon tangitanus CB12 (unknown sex, overwintered outdoors, so still small) £25. Three for £70
Timon tangitanus CB11 small males £25, CB10 large males £30
Gallotia stehlini CB12 two for £70 (sex unknown)
Physignathus lesueuri (Australian Water dragons) CB11 small male £60, CB12 males ? £50
Laudakia stellio CB11 males £25. CB12 (sex unknown) £25, three for £70.
Timon lepidus CB12 £40 (well grown).
I also have a few Laudakia stellio picea. Please enquire for more details.
Testudo graeca CB10 (well grown) £75 with CITIES papers.
I am awaiting confirmation on dates, but these should be available for collection next week from South East London (SE7 8UD). Its possible it might be the week after. These are currently with us in Portugal where we are based.
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Post by mark68 on May 18, 2012 6:14:41 GMT
Eight in the first clutch, six in the second. I think a third clutch is likely. I think they can lay more. Langerwerf wrote that up to 40 eggs per year per female is possible. 8-10 eggs per clutch for young females and 10-15 for older females.
I was assuming that they needed more time to settle outdoors, but yes right now they are nervous lizards.
There is one very odd thing about strigata that I find fascinating. Once they have laid there eggs for the season and put on enough body weight, they will go into hibernation even if the temps are still high. When I saw Bert langerwerfs strigata in Alabama in 2007 it was around 30-33c in the shade in the first few days of sept. That is normal for that time of year. The young ones were there above ground and what I though were the adults. But Bert said what I was seeing was the yearlings not the ones who had laid eggs in the spring. The adults were already underground 'asleep' in August !
That makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. If you have laid eggs, and have put on plenty of condition, why risk your life above ground, when you could be safer below ground and able to produce more eggs next year ?
The other odd thing was that he never dug up the eggs of the stigata. he said the young hatched naturally in the same cages as the adults and that the adults left them alone. So in fact he had three generations living in the same space. I saw plenty of young with the yearlings and no sign of predation attemps or nipped tails.
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Post by mark68 on May 17, 2012 3:15:17 GMT
I would second the recommedation of Lacerta strigata. Really nice lizards and they can be quite productive egg layers too.
I mean no offence, but Chris its still very early yet, don't panic ! Plenty of time for breeding in the Uk.
Even here in sunny Portugal, most of my lacertids have not layed yet. The only exceptions are my argus that have produced eggs in the last week, and my strigata. I dug up a second clutch for the later about a week ago, but these were started off indoors initially only because I hadn't space indoors early in the year. Now they have a 1 metre square outdoor viv devoted to them.
I am hoping I might even get a third clutch of strigata eggs.
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Post by mark68 on May 17, 2012 3:05:27 GMT
Hi P.
I have this book. Its would definately recommend it. Excellent value for money considering it was never published for the masses. I have this book next to my bed, and I regularly read bits again.
The only depressing thing about the book is that it reminds us of what I great man we have lost in the herp world. I wish so much Bert was still here. The book answers alot of questions I had, but also leaves me with more questions I wish I could ask Bert.
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Post by mark68 on Mar 21, 2012 15:13:50 GMT
They do disapear for a few months. They have started to reappear in the last week. The odd thing is that in the summer months they are very common in the house. They steal alot of insects from containers I have on top of book shelves to store morios etc for the next days feeding. There are hot spots in the house they could easily use in the winter, but they completely disapear. I saw one up stairs yesterday that has been tucked away somewhere for a few months, I am pretty certain it must have been up there all winter waiting for the spring.
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Post by mark68 on Mar 21, 2012 15:02:57 GMT
Hi Alex. I am well thanks. Just very busy as always !
The article was in BHS bulletin Autumn 1992. Its the temp info in the section labelled a to i that is incorrect.
Viridis are you Colin M ? If so Hi !! I would certainly listen carefully to Rob P. I still am very much still learning about B. thamnobates. I have only been keeping them since December, but Rob has many years of experience. Plus he has spoken to plenty of good South African contacts who have helped him understand about the natural history of this species.
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Post by mark68 on Mar 20, 2012 19:43:58 GMT
I have kept a pair Leopard geckos outdoors where temps have gone down to -7c, with mixed results. One winter they survived. The next they did not. I am going to try it again with a diff enclosure design.
We have native Moorish geckos here, and they are very common. We have around 30 frosts each winter. But remember these are true European moorish geckos. I am guessing some of those imports are going to be 'softer', and in fact probably not T. mauritanica.
Plus they would be buggers to contain ! They are very good climbers.
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Post by mark68 on Mar 20, 2012 19:31:10 GMT
Forgot to say that BHS article is very good, but some of the climate data in the article according to Langerwerf was wrong.
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Post by mark68 on Mar 20, 2012 19:29:42 GMT
Hi Alex, Yes I was thinking of Bradypodion.I saw some at a friends house last week,they were remarkable little things.I know of one other keeper on here but wanted to see if anyone else kept them outdoors. Apparently Bert Langerwerf used to in Holland. I am just trying to get some information before I dip my toe in the water so to speak. Were the quadriocornis the species that Russel had for sale at Portsmouth?I have recently delved into chameleons with some Jacksons,thses will be going outside in the summer. I need to pick your brains as I have recently got some Phyllomedusa,I will contact you elsewhere. Regards Colin Bert never had thamnobates in Holland. He didn't get them until he had already moved to the US. You need to speak to Rob P. He is as far as I know by far the best person in the UK with experience of this species. Mine are outdoors now in mesh cages with night temps down to around 5c. I had Jacksoni in London down very close to freezing without probs.
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Post by mark68 on Oct 10, 2010 14:37:35 GMT
Tunisian Eyed lizards Timon pater CB10 £25 each (already these are green !).
Tunisian Eyed lizards Timon pater CB09 £80 for sexed pair.
Moroccan Eyed lizards Timon tangitanus CB09 £80 for sexed pair.
Moroccan Eyed lizards CB09 males £30
Starred agamas x Desert dragon Laudakia stellio stellio x L.s.brachydactyla £25 each
Plumed Basilisks Basiliscus plumifrons CB10 £30 each.
Australian Water dragons CB10 £60 Each. Two for £100. Three for £135. Ten for £350
All available for collection next week end from South East London. 16th and 17th of October.
For more info e-mail lacerta@sapo.pt Dont PM I am unlikely to see it !
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Post by mark68 on Aug 22, 2010 14:39:10 GMT
I am not sure it makes sense to keep the eggs unnaturally hot. Could it at least partly explain those eggs that never hatch ? I suspect that if you keep Timon eggs at a constant say 26-27c that would be still be warmer than the majority of wild eggs.
People I respect such as Rob Pilley and Chris Davis have noticed that fast incubated eggs hatch small babies. It is quite likely that later hatched young would have made up any difference in the egg compared to those that hatched a few weeks early and therefore started feeding earlier.
Larger hatchlings are more easily and reliably raised.
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Post by mark68 on Aug 20, 2010 5:39:17 GMT
The average max temp for July here was an incredible 37c. An average of 32-33c is more normal. We had a couple of days when it reached 42c here. The minimum average was 18c. I don't have temp data to hand for August, but the first week was very hot, with temps around 37c.
Despite that the maximum temp where the probe was located underground was 27.5c. The minimum was 23.5c. That is much lower than I suspect most keepers of this species incubate their eggs. I know that the temp data is from an artificial environment, not a wild nest location. But still I think this would indicate a constant temp of 29c is not natural ! I don't keep my bearded dragon eggs that warm !
Normally i incubate my Timon between 25-30c, which I know is too warm, but that is the natural temp of the house this time of year. I have 10 day old T. pater now. I think that is much too early.
I plan to find a way to incubate them cooler than this. I may have re-bury the eggs in a seperate enclosure to the adults. It is likely I will have larger, stronger, healthier babies as a result.
I also usually but not always find Lacerta trilineata eggs in the same location as I find Timon eggs. So I think temps in the low to mid 20's is probably a more natural incubation temp for this species also.
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Post by mark68 on Aug 20, 2010 5:17:30 GMT
Hi to you all
I live in central portugal in part of the warmest part of the natural range of Timon lepidus. I cannot keep that species but instead keep Timon pater and T. tangitanus in large outdoor enclosures. Each enclosure has a large insulated hide box sunk into the ground. Each box is around 25cm deep and has a mesh bottom. I keep the soil in these boxes permanently moist and the Timon almost always lay there eggs at the bottom of these boxes. I also during the summer months water a sunny area of the enclosure where many other species such as Aussie water dragons, Laudakia stellio, gallotia sp. lay there eggs. When i find these eggs the soil is also nice and damp around them.
Timon eggs naturally have long incubation periods. In my experience when eggs are kept at 28c they take 3 months. I believe they naturally hatch in the autumn in the wild. Bert Langerwerf told me in Alabama, with a climate similar in terms of temps to here, his Timon lepidus hatched in the Autumn when the adults had ceased feeding. Therefore he had no need to dig up eggs !
The Timon eggs I dig up are laid in the coolest spot of the enclosure, nice and deep. The outside areas in the sun are definately much warmer. The Timon females deliberately lay the eggs in cool moist areas where they will survive the long incubation time. I thought it would be interesting to see what temps were like where these eggs were found. I have thought for a long time that temps of 29c that some people here have recommended just seemed unnaturally hot to me. I installed a digital thermometer probe at the same point where I repeatedly found Timon pater, T. tangitanus eggs (and T. lepidus eggs when I kept that species several years ago). It was installed for the last five days of July and the first five days of August. Coincidentaly we have had the hottest July temps here for around 60 years.
more in a mo...
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Post by mark68 on Jul 24, 2010 16:01:31 GMT
I would agree totally with what Chris says above but would add...
I live within the southern part of the range of Timon lepidus. Although there are areas of their range with milder winters there are also areas with much colder conditions than here. We have around 30 frosts per wintyer down to around minus 7c. Last winter we had snow, and an hours drive from here north there are places with lepidus that has snow that lasts for weeks. You are in a very mild place for lepidus.
If you do keep them outdoors this winter (and i would) then it is important to get them outdoors ASAP so they can get used to a gradual cool down. Give them natural conditions and the lizards will know what to do to prepare there bodies for the winter.
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