Baby Water Dragons YAY!!!! :)

Well our stigg decided to look in on the eggs today. we were expecting them to hatch by the middle of november at the latest (incubation is 65-90 days depending on conditions)
And to our surprise 4 out of 9 eggs had hatched! at first we thought only two had hatched until closer inspection found two more hidden in the moss. Incubation just over 70 days by my reconning without consulting the diary

I can only thank our lucky stars that we had enough substrate and tank decorations, as well as a repti glow 5 laying around. stiggs dad gave us a spare 3 foot tank earlier this week as well, just shows you things happen for a reason.

So without further a do.... here they are
(there is actually 4 in the first photo. the 4th one is bottom left under the other three, you can see it's eye under the top left lizards elbow!)

I love getting pics of newly hatched WD's, their eyes look far to big for their heads! And the tails are sooooooo long!

Mind you we had fun when we found them. I gave the 2 babies to stigg, who then gave one to his dad, and while i was running around sorting out a temp enclosure until we got the tank sorted they managed to lose them on the floor, so we were all looking for them for about 10 mins! And where did they go... right behind the computer desk!

I'm glad i have lots of experience with baby WD's I've perfected grabbing them quickly when they escape! It's an art form lol!

AWWWWWWWWW! they are so cute!

they look like those little raptors from Jurassic park. lol.

yeah they do a little dont they.

I keep going upstairs checking on the eggs for any more. like a giddy kid!

I love the first feeding, bang some crickets in the tank and they all dive bomb on them in a mass feeding frenzy.
It's even funnier watching them with wax worms... they play tug of war with them even when i put a few in at once!

*Connie* wrote:

awwwww welcome to the world little ones!

That was a cute comment.


Anyway they do look like dinos.

my little raptors lol!

Fourthed for the dinosaur resemblance.

And they are cute!!

now i just have to wait till april haha

#5 and #6 have hatched.
forgot there are only 8 eggs lol. One didn't make it through incubation

Last two eggs are small but will keep an eye on them, even small eggs have been known to hatch.
Golden rule i have found with water dragon eggs, usually they all hatch within 48hours of each other, but if the egg is still round and white leave it in the incubator. I have known them hatch upto 14 days after the first ones appeared. Lazy little fella's lol!

Anyhow put some 3i crix in and a couple are eating These were the first ones stigg spotted so they may have been in the incubator a day or do before we got them out.

So all is going as it should do

#7 has hatched and #8 has pierced the egg and you can see its snout!

And just to make things complicated the chuffing thermostat has died a death, so I'm now relying on the water heater to keep the temperature! Should be ok so long as that doesn't pack in!
Still have another clutch of eggs in there!

Yay for eight little babies!

just had to give #8 a helping hand.
I know that if they dont leave the egg or at least get their head out within a couple of hours it's a little on the weak side and can drown in the fluid. Learned that from experiance. I know a lot of people will say no dont do that but I have been in this situation before.. wondering whether to intervene and eventually leaving it to late.

Personally I would rather help give the lizard a chance.

So carefully peeled back the shell, gently pulled it out and put it in a tub, where it tried to make a run for it! So I know it's going to be fine. So in about half an hour when it absorbs most of the rest of it's yolk sack it's ready to go in with the others.

1st 24 hours are critical but I think we can safely say yay for 8 babies!

That's great to hear, Lisa. hope the lil' guy pulls through ok!

it should do it's looking very alert and trying to find a way out of the box.

Here's #8 just before i helped it out...

Awwwwww, he looks so cute.

tut tut you broke the breeder rule hehe
i do the same though haha

i know but i hate it when one dies before it can get out!

all of them made it through the night and a couple of them are eating. I have observed #8 who had a helping hand last night bouncing around the tank... must have been a tigger in a previous life. It's the most active!

thats great, and yeah i hate them dying in the egg so i have helped them out n the past aswell lol
Hope they all do well

They are very cute! It is one of my favorit animals. I would like to have some but I can't. Because you can't leave them alone when you go on vacation Good luck with the raptors

cheers hun

Oooo congrats! I want a little WD.

Mine is an adult so has traded it's cuteness factor for prettyness lol

Not that the babies aren't pretty too, they are, very.

clutch #2 of this year are now hatching.

Out of 9 eggs, 4 have hatched / 1 hatched and fell in the heated water and drowned / 3 eggs are half way out, and as always... there's a lazy one that aint ready to come out just yet lol!
As for the heated water I think i will have to put some sort of mesh over it so moisture can come out but no babies can get in. This hasn't been a problem until this clutch. But we live and learn


From the last clutch, 1 had a bad eye infection and didn't make it. the other 7 however are doing pretty well. the runt, however, will only eat wax worms. Which isn't good but it is eating which is better than having another dead. I am having to feed this one separately but it should be ok. I have seen this before and when it's bulked up it starts eating crix again. so fingers crossed for that one.