Found a baby shingleback in my tank this morning. Help please

[MattFab]

Hi guys,

Been a while since I have been on here. Life, work and travel have got in the way but I still take good care of my reptile and I need your help.

I came home from work to find my Shinglebacks have had a baby. I did see them attempt to mate however thought the attempts had been unsuccessful. This is my first baby reptile and this was unexpected so my questions are as follows:

Can the baby remain in the enclosure until I find it a good home? Currently my pair are in a 4x2x2 with hiding places, not all out in the open. The pair have been together since birth, are about 2.5 years old.

What are the immediate things I should do?

Thanks guys

[NickBrahz]

Don't shinglebacks in the wild stay near the mothers territory for the first year or so? if so i wouldn't see the harm in them being there temporarily.

[alichamp]

Matt! Nice to see you back I've been wondering how you've been going with your shinglebacks. We definitely need to see more of those here (OK, maybe I need to )

Nick, I'm not sure that's true. My guess (and it is only a guess) is like other baby blueys and separate straight away. That's what I'd do. Check out this earlier thread: Gravid shingleback popped

[MattFab]

Thank you for the advice mate.

I have separated the baby in this box, too high for the parents to get into, provided the little champ with a tiny bit of food and enough substrate to burrow until I get home from work today and figure out what to do.

Pics below are of the parents, 1 is the dad, 2 is the mum, just took them quickly this morning while I got a pic of the baby.

[alichamp]

Awesome!! So excited for you.

The book Keeping and breeding Australian lizards (edited by Mike Swan) says that "newly born lizards should be set up in enclosures either individually or with other newly born lizards. It is not advisable to place small lizards back into enclosures where larger lizards may injure or kill them. The enclosures should ... perhaps not be cooled during the first winter" (p.41).

Also some pics of the shingleback section of the book:

[MattFab]

Thankyou so much for the reply and information mate. Appreciate the effort!

[Janella]

I know absolutely nothing about babies, but wanted to say what a cutie you got there! Congratulations :-)

[Richard.C]

I used to leave babies in with parents if just the parents were in the cage,but when the numbers grew u started to house future babies elsewhere just for peace of mind

Nice and early for babies in melb,mine were always march/april

[MattFab]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

For now I have the little guy in the box and I take him out to make sure he eats and drinks every day. So far so good, once he is a little bit stronger I will begin to look for a new home for him as I do not have the space myself.

More photos soon