Hi Camille,
Camille Thompson wrote:
> I have three grandis hatchlings (about 3-6 wks old)
> living together in a planted 5gal tank. There are two
> more pairs of eggs in the incubator. What size range
> can safely be put together?
In a tank that size you need to keep them around the same age. Even a
difference of two weeks is pushing it at the rate these guys grow. Bigger will
always bully and out eat the new hatchlings. Your best strategy is to raise
them in smaller set-ups individually, like one gallons, or in a larger
container by clutch.
> At what age can I sex
> them,
An experienced eye can sex them at about 3 months, inexperienced takes longer.
> and at what age to they need to be separated?
> (Can females be left together happily?)
>
As soon as you notice any aggression. You should be alert for this at all
times.
>
> Also, last year my female mostly laid singles (i.e.,
> laid one egg one day in one place and another the next
> day somewhere else). The last clutch was a doublet,
> glued together. One of the doublet hatched, and a
> little crack appeared in the other the same day, like
> a nose pecking its way out, but it never hatched and
> when I opened the egg there was a fully developed,
> dead, hatchling.
If you see that next time and the other has hatched, go ahead and gently crack
it, possibly you can save the hatchling. I've done this before and so has
another Phelsuma breeder I know.
>
> This year my female laid one pair as singles and the
> rest have been doublets, making 4 or 5 pairs laid so
> far (two of them still "cooking"). Both of the
> singles hatched, but of the doublets that hatched, the
> same thing happened again; one hatched, the other
> almost did. Any ideas?
Not really, go back to the basics with your adults, check their husbandry
parameters. There's not much you can do with a genetic defect, all you can do
is check your husbandry and make sure you have healthy geckos.
>
> I dust my adults crix every feeding with Mineral-I
> this time of year (every other feeding in off-season),
> and there is a little dish of it that she has
> unlimited access to, and has used.
I used to use that, now I use Susan Donoghue's supplement with high calcium
content http://www.herpnutrition.com . I felt Mineral made their calcium sacs
too big.
> The eggs are in a
> hovabator in now-slightly-moist vermiculite in a
> closed plastic container with 3/4" x 1/8" (approx)
> slits all the way around the top. I keep an open dish
> of water in the incubator, although I have lost the
> hygrometer (gotta get a new one, I know). The temps
> were a little high earlier this summer-around 84-85,
> but I've gotten it down to 81-82.
>
I skip the vermiculite, just put the eggs in deli cups. They usually have a
groove on the bottom to keep them from rolling around. They don't need much
moisture to hatch, although my incubator is at about 60-70%. Be sure to NEVER
let Phelsuma eggs directly contact vermiculite. They hatch in sweater drawers
in people's bedrooms (escape stories) and certainly the sweater drawer is not
high humidity. If you want females, keep it 79-80, 81-82 will get you a few
more males, 83 and up mostly males.
>
> Last question. Are captive hatched hatchlings
> guaranteed parasite-free at hatching, or are there
> some parasites that can be transmitted to the egg from
> the parent?
Possible, however, unlikely if parents present well.
> Where do most parasites that get into cb
> gex come from, crix?
Possible.
> Can you de-parasitize an invert?
> Thanks!
> Camille
>
You don't. If you can trace it down to this then change suppliers, keep your
bins clean, etc. Your last three questions are not much to worry about compared
to getting and maintaining healthy adults, then providing them with proper
supplementation.
Julie Bergman
http://www.geckoranch.com
GGA lifetime member
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