guimbeaui in groups - advice?

[adamkwas]

I was planning on housing my 1.3 group of guimbeaui in a 100x60x120 (cm), though, now, I'm not so sure. I have two basking spots and 6 removable "orthodox" egg laying sights. I'd like to here how guimbeaui keepers house their animals? In groups, or single females with the male rotated in?

Adam

 

[colinmelsom]

I think that it is a bit of the luck of the draw depending on the compatability of the male to the females and the females with eah other.
I have a 1.2 group of guimbeaui that seem to exist in harmony together in a 450 x 450 x 600mm vivarium.Both females lay eggs.
On the other hand I have a male that is housed on his own as he has attacked all of the females thatI have introduced him to.
I keep a 1.3 group of borbonica together which are fine but I have noticed that they do not breed very readily and I wonder whether this is due to dominace between the females.They dont attack each other but i suspect that only one female is laying eggs.
Therefore I cannot give you any conclusive answers but I would suggest keeping the females separately and moving the male between the vivaria.

 

[jpmarcel]

I was planning on housing my 1.3 group of guimbeaui in a 100x60x120 (cm), though, now, I'm not so sure. I have two basking spots and 6 removable "orthodox" egg laying sights. I'd like to here how guimbeaui keepers house their animals? In groups, or single females with the male rotated in?

Adam

I've bred alot of P. guimbeaui for the past few years and I'll give you my experiences.
For the most part groups do not work well for breeding.
Females can be just as aggresive as males and I've had females kill other females and even a female kill another male.
Some trios have work out but usually results in only one female actually breeding in the same cage and one animal being submissive and stressed. There are exceptions with individual groups. I have some females housed together with no apparent problems. If I do this I'll keep a close eye on them and look for bite marks on the tails, limbs and body. If I notice one animal constantly hiding or showing dark, stress coloration I will seperate them.
I have also wittness a trio of guimbeaui living harmoniously together for over a year and one day one female was beat to shit. Aggression with this species can happen with a flip of a switch.
Some think a larger cage will allow for groups to be kept but I have also seen females and males fighting that were not caged and had free roam of my reptile shop.
I currently keep most animals seperate and rotate a male in with a female and this gives me the best results for breeding. I do have pairs kept together 24/7 that have proven themselves to be compatible and a few compatible female pairs together.
Hope this helps and good luck.
Jason

 

[adamkwas]

Thank you, both of you, I really appreciate the detailed responses. If you were curious, I have gone ahead with housing them separately. I had placed them all in "main" enclosure initialy, then witnessed signs of aggression between females. One of the females is rather plump - i'm hoping she's gravid. One thing I was not able to find online was the average number of clutches guimbeaui lay. From what I've read, they're not AS prolific as others in the genus. Can anyone confirm this?

Again, thanks so much

 

[jpmarcel]

Thank you, both of you, I really appreciate the detailed responses. If you were curious, I have gone ahead with housing them separately. I had placed them all in "main" enclosure initialy, then witnessed signs of aggression between females. One of the females is rather plump - i'm hoping she's gravid. One thing I was not able to find online was the average number of clutches guimbeaui lay. From what I've read, they're not AS prolific as others in the genus. Can anyone confirm this?

Again, thanks so much

When a healthy female starts to lay they can produce a clutch about every month or so and I've had some lay 9 clutches in a row. Females laying this amount didn't show signs of emaciation or any calcium deficiencies. I find them to be very prolific when cared for properly. I do supplement with a variety of supplements and use 10.0 UVB bulbs.
The hatchlings are easy to care for if well hydrated and fed properly. I also like to keep juveniles seperated after 2 months as submissive ones will begin to lag behind in growth. Once again this isn't the case with all juveniles and depends on each animal.

Jason

 

[adamkwas]

Another question for either of you: do you find that adult females will eat their hatchlings if the eggs are left to develop, and hatch, inside the enclosure? Or is it best to remove the eggs and incubate (I plan to do this anyways, occasionally, to try and produce males)?

 

[jpmarcel]

Another question for either of you: do you find that adult females will eat their hatchlings if the eggs are left to develop, and hatch, inside the enclosure? Or is it best to remove the eggs and incubate (I plan to do this anyways, occasionally, to try and produce males)?

I have read and heard of female Phelsuma eating eggs but I have yet to see any of mine eating fertile eggs. Some will eat egg shells after they hatch.

I have switched from incubating eggs in the incubator to leaving eggs in cages to hatch. My room is hot and can reach in upper 80's and the Guimbeaui cages are on my top racks and temps in cage under lights can get into the 90's along with the eggs. Temps will drop down to mid 70's at night. The high temps with a fluctuation at night is what you need for males. I have hatched males in incubator but I have a timer shut it off at night. I have been getting better results with letting them incubate in cage. In my experience the hatchlings are healthier and more robust incubated this way.
I also found that if you incubate eggs in incubator at constant high temps (88F) the hatchlings develop too fast and often fail to hatch or hatchlings are small, weak and rarley survive.
Another note is the eggs must be enclosed before hatching (this can be tricky if they glue eggs in the corner of the glass) as the parents occasionally eat the hatchlings. Not all Phelsuma will do this but I've had this happen with Guimbeaui and Cepediana .
Jason

 

[adamkwas]

Thanks so much, Jason. My phelsuma room stays quite warm too - mid 80's during the day, so I'll let my eggs incubate insitu.


Again, thank you for all the helpful information,