This years baby shingles so far.

[Scotts1au]

Wow I live in Aus can can't say I've ever seen anything like those.

Anyway -so you are breeding Sunset Shingles :-)

[Jeff]

...Anyway -so you are breeding Sunset Shingles :-)

Lol! Not many will get that.

[Fatal_S]

I got it! Do I win a shingle?

[acanthurus]

Hehe. If I ever do manage to breed my own morph truth is I have no idea what I would call it - probably something boring like "high orange shingles"

Acanthurus, you goldfields are all amazing, and I could comment about them all day, but if you don't mind a slightly off topic question I would like to ask about the size of your babies.

I have read, especially in the book, "Keeping Shingleback Lizards" by Darren Green, that shingleback litters generally weigh about 40% of the mother's normal weight. Does that number sound anywhere close in your experience? I am guessing that your females are giving birth to litters slightly less than 40% of their weight. I have only produced one litter so far (normal coastal form T.r.rugosa), and it was two babies 85 grams each. That means that the total litter weight is similar to your total litter weights of your single babies this year, but also a little less than 40% of the mother's normal weight.

Sorry for the O.T. Question, but you have produced so many rugosa now that I would really like to hear your data on this. It seems really cool to me if total litter weights are generally the same no matter how many babies there are.

Looking back through past litters I think the largest would have been just under 40% of mums weight, with most being about a third. I am guessing that data for the book was based on experiences with T. r. aspera which from what I have seen have bigger babies than T. r.rugosa. I think the same goes for litter size with T.r. rugosa having generally smaller litters on average in my experience than their eastern cousins. One other purely anecdotal observation I have from my group that I have noticed is to do with the sex of the offspring from each female. I have had 6 girls produce multiple litters (over several years). So far 5 of these have only produce babies of the same sex each time, with some girls seemingly only having girls and others only males. Even the odd one out has produced only one male out of 6 that survived (excluding the one that died before I could sex it). Based on a very small sample group I know, but it has got me a bit curious to see if it continues.

[hurricanejen]

Beautiful babies! Wish we could get them like that over here - those babies are eye popping!!

-Jen

[Jeff]

Most of the data I have seen on the litter weights has been for aspera. I was not so interested in the exact number (40%), though, just whether or not any individual mother's total litter weights tend to be the same year to year no matter how many babies are in the litter. Since my female gave birth to two 85gram babies last time, would a singleton from her likely weigh 179 grams? That is interesting to me because it is definitely NOT true with my other species. Some mothers tend to have bigger babies every time no matter how many are In the litter. Others have small babies whether the litter is 12 or 2.

Your experience with each mother almost always giving birth to the same sex is really cool too. I would really like for that to be universal since my female has only produced a female so far. Females seem to be about 5 - 10 times as hard to find as males outside of Australia right now. They are extremely hard to come by. It would be great if all babies here turn out to be female!

I have also heard that each mother tends to have the same litter size year after year. Some typically have one baby every time while others will almost always produce two etc. Have you found this with yours?