I seem to be the only one posting in this section Anyway, I've been worrying about my anoles, in case we eventually get a female and they eventually have eggs and we eventually get little baby anoles which will eventually... Anyway, what are the safest substrates for anole eggs and babies? Is sand an acceptable form of substrate for the babies, or does it still pose a threat to the babies' digestive systems?
U should use vermuclite/ But wen the hatchlings first come out u should get them to potting soil or watever u use.Cuae im not that sure about the health things.But im sure about the eggs though.
I was also told to use a 1:1 ratio (by weight) of vermiculite and water for the incubation. Once hatched they should be in an enclosure similar to the one you have for the adult anoles. I've been told that sterile potting soil is one of the best substrates to use (for babies or adults).
I only keep snakes at the moment... Can you use sphagnum moss as an incubation medium for lizard eggs? That's what I use for snake eggs but I just wanted to ask in case there are any slight differences between the two. Probably a stupid question. Also, I just read that whatever you use should be a bit damp. Do you find that you have to keep a damp piece of paper over the vermiculite to keep it at this level of wetness. With sphagnum moss I find that you do not need to do that. All this probably sounds so stupid but I've never kept lizards and so don't know if they have very similar requirements to snakes or not. [Edited on 25/8/2002 by Neil]
Well, for anoles we just left 'em right there in the enclosure (kinda). We had another enclosure setup. A 30 gallon tank almost identical to the one in which the adults were kept. When we saw new eggs had been dropped, we simply scooped them up - making sure to keep them in the same position - and put them in the other tank. They happily incubated for a few weeks, and lots of healthy lil babies hatched out. Now, that only worked because the temps and humidity here are ideal for baby anoles. They drop right in the soil out in the back yard here, and right now we've got hundreds scampering around outside. We had the 30 gallon "maternity tank" out in the back porch, so it got the same temps and humidity as nature intended. As for other reptiles like beardies & leopard geckos... We've not had any beardy eggs ourselves yet, but most people do use fine vermiculite. As long as it's kept moist, there's never a big problem. We have had leo eggs dropped, and hatch out, here, and those were incubated simply in moist sand (washed playsand from home depot). Basically because I didn't have any vermiculite at the time and all the local stores were out of it. But those sat in the sand around 85 degrees for a few weeks and hatched out beautifully. There were however some defects and both sadly ended up dying at about 6-8 weeks of age, but we think this was due to a genetic defect in one of the parents.
Id use vermiculite. Just keep it moist and you should be fine. As for substrate for babies, id use papertowel for the first month or so, at least until they are a little bigger.good luck
id say vermiculite too. the babies u probably would not want to put them on sand id suggest some kind of potting soil or orchid bark
Actually, a while back, I put the eggs in vermiculite and lined the cage with damp paper towels. The eggs seem fine, and I think the paper towels will work when they hatch.
