SUMMER 2009
Henry mated successfully last year but this year things have not gone so well. Our night video recorded him mating with Lucy but the 13 eggs she consequently laid have decomposed as they were not fertile. It’s back to the drawing board for Henry!
On the more positive side, three common (punctatus) species females have laid along with one of the rare (guntheri) species. Unfortunately the guntheri eggs proved, once again, to be infertile. We have sent 19 of the 39 eggs laid this year to Victoria University in Wellington where they will be used for temperature sex determination research. The remaining eggs are being kept in our incubator.
All 20 babies hatched last season are now on display within the enclosure. Our total tuatara population is 85. We are planning to relocate some of these young tuatara on to a Southern Island if we can locate one that is vermin free and has enough insect life to sustain their survival.
Join us on Fridays at 4:00pm over the Summer to see the tuatara being fed. You will be surprised at just how quickly they can move when there is food around! All the tuatara welcome any fresh huhu grubs. Keep them in a container with the woody material they were found in. Mmm….. delicious!
Lindsay Hazley feeding a Tuatara
SPRING 2009
The cold winter this year has resulted in a few visitors missing out on seeing Henry, but they did not go away disappointed as Henry and Mildred’s offspring have been stealing all the attention.
Unlike the older Tuatara’s motionless behaviour, the youngsters are continually on the move in their display enclosure.
Eggs are usually laid from August through to October, the timing depends on getting some spring –like weather.
Lucy is expected to lay this year as our night cameras recorded her and Henry mating.
The rarer Guntheri species have been spotted mating too. After nearly 19 years we are hoping to finally get a successful breeding season from the Guntheri. If this happens it would be the first captive breeding of this species.
Henry, September 2009 |
