Appropriate Breeding Age: Males may breed at 1 year of age. Females should be at least 2 to 3 yrs before subjected to breeding. Breeding too young may result in egg binding (dystocia) and malnutrition. Breeding too frequently can shorten their life span as well. Most importantly, the female should be healthy & well-fed. Breeding Conditions: A cool down period can help initiate breeding behavior. Maintain lower temps for approximately a month followed by increased heat and humidity. Upon warming again, adult frilleds will usually begin to display breeding behavior. Care for Gravid Female: Food should be dusted with calcium and vitamins. Good nutritious feeders should be provided, such as hornworms or gut-loaded roaches. A lay box should be provided as they may start to dig holes a while before laying. The gestation period is about a month long. She may stop or reduce eating when about to lay. Some females are capable of producing multiple clutches throughout the year, so it is very important to keep them in good health. Egg Laying: Females should be provided a lay box inside the enclosure with a moist dirt/sand mix. If not provided, they may not retain the eggs and could die from egg binding. Once the eggs have been laid, they should be moved as soon as possible to an incubator. Mark the eggs on top to prevent turning them. They should be placed in the incubator in the same position they were laid. Turning the egg can drown the embryo. Infertile eggs will not harden and will soften and collapse within a few days. Clutch size is generally 10-18 eggs, although this can vary based on the size, age, and health of the female. Incubation: Incubation temps should be 83°-86°F. Incubation lasts around 2-3 months, give or take, depending on temperature. Lower temps slow down development and lead to longer incubation periods. Relative humidity should be near 90-100%. They can be incubated on vermiculite/water (1:1 ratio). Eggs should hatch over a period of 24-48 hrs. Hatchling Care: Hatchlings are about 5.5 inches long. Optimally, babies should be housed individually but can be housed in groups if they are of similar size and given additional room. Hatchlings should be fed twice daily and kept well hydrated. They can be fed dusted pinhead crickets, small superworms, small dubias, appropriate greens, and hornworms when they get large enough. They should not be sold/transported until they are 7-10 inches long, or 3-5 months old. Helpful Links/References: A note on temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) - Extreme incubation temperatures may manipulate the sex of the hatchlings. Eggs incubated at high temps (near 90°), as well as low temps (below 80°), may develop into a majority of females. Eggs incubated in the middle of the range will have gender solely determined by genetics, so one could expect to see an even mixture of males and females. Eggs should NOT be purposely incubated for female outcome, because hatchling viability will be decreased, and many eggs may not hatch at all. Half of the females produced from the out of normal range of temps will most likely be genetic males and because of their ZY chromosome system they may produce all genetic males (if they survive to produce offspring at all). There may be additional factors involved as well, to complicate the issue. Many breeders interestingly report male-heavy clutches, although this could just be due to random chance. Keep in mind that given a clutch size of 15, the statistical chances of getting 10 or more of the same sex is 30%. Additional reading suggestions: Keith A. Christian, Anthony D. Griffiths, Gavin Bedford and Graham Jenkin Journal of Herpetology Vol. 33, No. 1 (Mar., 1999), pp. 12-17
More on TSD: (Listed in order of relevance)
Bearded Dragons - The Effects of Incubation Temperature on Sex
TSD in Geckos Andy Edge, Hades Dragons, 2008 Temperature-Dependent Sex Determination in the Leopard Gecko, Eublepharis macularius Brian E. Viets, Alan Tousignant, Michael A. Ewert, Craig E. Nelson, David Crew
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