Hi

Im dennis....been lurking here a while scouring for information but haven't had much to give back so I haven't posted..........ya gotta a sweet place here n kudos to everyone contributing cuz theres a ton a solid info here I appreciate.

I'm kinda an older character n I've kept all sorts a reptiles n amphibians since I was two ....I'm 37 so its basically been a life long obsession. I prefer fascination.

Ive reproduced over 50 species of reptiles n amphibians for profit but mostly for the challenge. Nowadays the economy and my health has forced me to concentrate more on just a few species. I primarily breed beaded lizards n Gila monsters these days and I got a fairly big collection of the lil dinosaurs that keep me way way busy. I actually am getting beaded lizard eggs from my first girl of the season right now......helodermid lizards are a whole other realm of reptile imho and anyone fascinated with reptiles should experience them one day. The first beaded lizard I hatched looked at me as I first looked at it in my incubator and I swear almost said DADDY. They are amazing intelligent.

but I love amphibians too and at one time I was raising at least twenty different dart frogs types but I got out of that cuz the fruit flies drew way way too many spiders into my house nonstop and the value of them dropped so it wasn't as feasible to individually raise each one.

I recently acquired a awesome group of young axolotls from Kats aquatics I couldn't more pleased with for a research experiment with biodynamics in aquaponics. They and a couple catfish are gonna be my top level predators in a closed loop ecosystem I'm setting up here to test a few things but also I just missed keepin axis they rock!.

peace

Dennis

Hi Dennis and welcome to the forum! A word of caution when keeping catfish with axolotls....often the cat will become the prey and due to its spines cause damage and injury to the axolotl while it is being eaten.

See this article: Caudata Culture Articles - Species Mixing Disasters

nah no worries not in the same tank lol

This is Cartman n Princess, two of my adult banded Gilas. I paired these animals this season but they did not produce a clutch. Princess produced a beautiful baby a couple seasons back but Cartman has not fathered a clutch yet . l am starting to think he is either a robust over aggressive female or a very low libido male. I stimulate breeding and determine the sex of my heloderm lizards by allowing the males to engage in combat with their mouths muzzled. With two males its is usually a instant WWF style wrestling match but lately I have noticed sometimes females are combative too......frustrates me n fascinates me all at once. This is my seventh year working with my Gila monster n Beaded lizard colonies and fourth season attempting to reproduce them. I have a breeding project happening with beaded lizards right now completely unique of anything else in the whole world and that's very exciting to say it modestly.


So far this season I got 24 fertile eggs incubating 8 gilas n 16 beaded and I'd guess another 20-40 more beaded eggs still to be laid and its exciting to succeed as I am n making haters HATE. These lizards are rare n very valuable for a good reason. It is not easy at all to get them to breed. A good comparison is to consider them the Pandas of the reptiles. They are highly specialized and are only reproductively receptive for a small window of time ideally every season. I've worked with animals for 35 years 100% dedicated nonstop and with reptiles I seriously have a gift....... I AM THE LIZARD KING .....lol

peace

Here is a couple baby banded Gilas I hatched here in Jurassic Pets dungeons last season......

The extremely symmetric patterned gorgeous animal is Grace and the other one Trouble.

Peace