11 Babies!!!

Eleven babies... these little guys are so much fun... I love watching them drink and eat... I could spend most of my day hand feeding these little guys!!! They are just so cute!

Trever's Dragon's

Trever watched two hatch this morning...and then 2 yesterday! He was able to capture the process... what great photos!!

They are all really cute!! Fed them all greens and saw them eat for the first time today and watched them drink for the first time too!!!

Our First 2010 Dragon Baby!

He is here... err... maybe... She is here!!

The first dragon to emerge from the clutch of eggs has hatched!

On 3-10-10 Corkscrew had laid her first clutch of eggs for 2010. Kilo and Cork were on their way to become proud parents once again. We have been checking our incubator regularly, anxiously anticipating the first baby to emerge.

Our friends bought us these really cool hatch boxes that keep the eggs moist and yet still provide a lot of air flow. An added benefit is that they keep the eggs still in the rows.

Ben checked the incubator this morning at about 7:50 am... no dragons... by 8:15 when I had returned home from dropping Trev off at school, the first dragon had completely emerged. We still can't tell which egg she/he hatched from... that was quick and stealthy!!! Maybe we can call him Stealth for now... until he finds a new home!

Ben set up the habitat Stealth will live in... and I have been feeding and spraying it down to get the humidity up. I am excited about spending a whole day caring for our new little bundle of joy!

I think we will have 6-8 more hatch this week and another 10 more hatch in the next 3-4 weeks... so keep checking in... I will update this blog regularly with pictures!

Corkie's new babies!!!

Oh my has our reptile family has grown since last year!

We have grown to a family of 4 bearded dragons (Mom: Corkscrew, Dad: Kilo, Daughter: Lizzie, Son:Ruth) as well as two frilled lizards Shrapnel and Volta that we adopted after visiting the Reptile Show in Sacramento last year!

Ben has begun breeding roaches, much to my dismay... and we now have weekly cricket drop offs at our house (Thank you Arrow Enterprises AKA Karen Bedsaul). Ben even built an outdoor habitat for all the feeder insects to live in... I think we are officially reptile nuts!

Corkscrew and Kilo have come out of brumation healthy and strong... and apparently a bit frisky!

A month of head bopping, a few black beards, arms waving, funky looking push ups and some biting... our normally flat bellied dragon began showing her "lumpy sides". Ben has been feeding her a well varied diet with plenty of protein to ensure healthy eggs and a healthy dragon. She feasts on lots of veggies, "BITES" (Nature's Zone), crickets, meal worms, cockroaches and pinkie mice.

*Certainly, not all dragons need to have all of these foods, no worries, if you dislike feeding roaches or pinky mice, there are plenty of other options for your pet.

Last week she began "showing" and I was able to feel at least twelve. From past experience I knew this meant she was very close to laying and that we could have up to twice that many when she lays. After days of digging and filling her food bowl with substrate (walnut hulls), we got the message, she was ready and it was our turn to make her comfortable.

After filling her habitat with coconut husk yesterday, I woke up this morning to find Corkscrew had laid 19 beautifully healthy eggs and with only one exception. We have set up our hovabator to (ranging from 82-84 degrees) with "Hatchrite" to incubate the eggs. A friend of ours gave us a great container to store the eggs in while inside the hovabator, this new tray keeps the eggs safe from shifting and also allows better air flow. I am excited to see just how many babies we will have this year with this new set up!

Dragon Eggs

July 4th & 5th

We still have only two hatched dragons... However... on July 4th, Kila laid 17 eggs . Apparently she liked riding in the car... we had been waiting for her to lay all day... it wasn't until she was in the trunk in her hatch box on our way to Laura & Chris's house that she began laying... We did get to see her push a few out... really cool experience...

After church on the 5th we went to the store to pick out parts to build an incubator... the cage is hard to keep a steady temperature and now with two sets of eggs... we want to be sure to do it right! We opted to purchase an incubator instead as the weekend was already packed full and the eggs needed to be stored properly and fast.

The brown egg has been slowly collapsing, but not completely. We haven't given up on it yet. The last white egg still hasn't hatched... no change in it at all.

Trev will be here Wednesday... maybe the white egg is waiting for him to get here so it can hatch!

We have been calling them Drago #1 and #2... we are waiting for Trev to name them this time.

Dragon #2

And to us... children were born!

Thursday morning, as usual, I was running late... but nothing about this day would be normal...

Something told me to check on our dragons... as I check the food dish I noticed something rather strange... Kila was digging... like a dog burying a bone... and Kilo... laying behind her with a look of utter disgust... was beneath a pile of walnut shells... Kila had just nearly completely buried him in the substrate.

After having 3 sets of eggs laid this year, I knew what this meant... we have a pregnant dragon and ifI didn't think quickly I would have dehydrated baby dragon eggs when I got home!

I scooped up Kila, grabbed our prepared "Pregnant Dragon Container" and ran out the door...

Upon arriving at work, with my pregnant dragon in tow, I got a phone call from Donna (Ron's Reptiles; Chico, CA) telling me we have dragon's hatching! Wow, I could have a delivery and a birth all in one day!

Quickly, I asked to take the day off opting to work the holiday instead and ran out the door.

... Flashback... to last December...

Ben had created a great habitat for the dragon's simulating true Austrailian seasons in hope of brumating them as we were wrapping up construction of our new home. After 3 months, the testing grounds began... we reintroduced our dragons on "dates" and prayed our dragon's would be very "happy to see each other". We had no idea... just HOW happy they would be...

Since then, Corkscrew has laid a cluster of 14 eggs... Kila has laid 24 and then 4 more. This being thier first time and ours, only 4 of the eggs have made it through incubation. (Some eggs weren't fertile, others were too dehydrated). However, today... we would see new life!

... In just 20 minutes from the phone call yesterday telling me an arm was poking out of the egg... our first lizard was born. In hopes of viewing the rest of the births firsthand, I took my eggs home.

After many hours of monitoring their temperature to assure they had a cage at exactly 82 degrees... a second dragon began to emerge face first out of the egg...

Our second little guy took much longer than the first. He waited till quite late in the night to emerge and at that was quite timid but much more willing to be held. As you can see they are smaller than Ben's finger and quite willing to give him a hug!

Our first little guy is still skittish, but enjoys basking on the rock with his brother. He has eaten his first cricket today and has enjoyed running quickly here and there in the cage.