NEWS  LETTER

This is the time of the year when many of the egg-laying reptiles lay their eggs. This water dragon has dug a hole in the ground about 70mm deep and deposited nine eggs in it.

The eggs are about 20mm long and have a soft  leathery casing. Here she is giving them a gentle push with her nose to make sure that they are firmly in place.

The next job is to cover them with soil and grass for protection and to prevent them from drying out.

When finished it can be difficult to tell where the nest is. The eggs are left to hatch and the female takes no further interest in them.  At the Reptile Park the eggs are collected and placed in an incubator where they hatch 60 to 70 days later.

The Day Gecko from Madagascar is much more casual where it deposits its eggs. As is typical with geckos it lays two eggs, which in some species of geckos such as these are hard shelled, and on occasions can be stuck together as the ones in the photo. The eggs are usually left in a hollow or else stuck to a suitable surface and left to hatch, there is no attempt by the female to cover or hide them.

Leopard Geckos  bury their eggs under a stone which gives them protection as well as helping maintain the humidity to a suitable level. The eggs do not have hard shells like the Day Geckos nor are they stuck together. They are encased in soft leathery skin which is kept tight by internal pressure and they expand slightly during incubation.

The Bearded Dragon's nesting habits are similar to its cousin the Water Dragon though the size of the clutch is usually greater, in this case fifteen eggs. As with most other egg laying reptiles there is a time during incubation when the temperature of the egg determines the sex of the developing embryo inside.

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