feed day,lots of pics

[Lisa]

Great shots, Richard
My eastern is pretty much on a dog food and live food only diet, too. The only veg he'll eat is corn (which I don't like to feed as they don't digest well) and the only fruit he'll eat is banana.

My blotch eats anything, loves his veggies and so does my shingle.

First Christmas beetles caught and consumed last night. Ho Ho Ho already! But with 30+C days already and no rain there's absolutely no prospect of snails. Again I think I might buy some from thegreenscorpion.com.au

[Richard.C]

not much rain here either lisa,but melb is cold enouth still heaps of snails

[Leigh]

out side ones have only just started to come out of hibernation recently,they curl up in the dirt,lots out in the open all winter,so there just really dirty,when they shed,which will be shortly ill take more pics to show u what i mean,also u forgot centralians
heres some hibernating in the middle of winter,where i live thats may through to early september

Were they as you found them or did you uncover them,do/did they brumate in that spot for four months and is four months about the norm for a brumation period,or just where you live, sorry mate I couldnt stop writting questions there

[Richard.C]

naah those ones pretty much stayed there for 4 months,5 really,they pop out for the odd bask if the suns out occaisionally,but only usually 1 or 2 of them,those 2 in the pic are out in the open,exactly how u see them,no cover at all for the whole time,half of them did that this year,most years a lot do,and its not from a lack of hiding spots as they have plenty of options,some are closer to logs though so get a little protection from that,those 2 are at the back of the enclosure and in that area a good 10 of them were with in 1 metre of each other,its protected from the cold sotherly wind by a sheet metal wall to roof height,blotchies are extremely cold hardy,easterns would suffer respitory infections with similar conditions,they tend to like warmer hibernation areas,and yes we get both types in my area,each year a wild blotchy or 2 hang around outside the cage during the breeding season.obviously pick up female scent

[Richard.C]

and yes in my area,starting in early may to late august early september is the normal hibernation period for them and easterns.

i need to space my writing out so its easier for u lot to read,lol.

ahhh thats the ticket,where i am gets pretty cold over the winters,we dont get snow but the odd mega hail storm,we had a day this winter and last when they were covered in a couple of inches of ice,like piled hail stones,i left them this winter but got paranoid the winter before so put them all under cover for protection,they felt almost frozen,but returned to the same spot and continued hibernating.

i think thats why people over seas have issues breeding them,they are to scared to cool them down enough,which is understandable considering there value over there.

ive read articles where people say only heat them to 25 but only cool them to 15 over winter,i5 is not cool enough,thats the warm time over night low in alot of there range in there active period,and they dont mind hotter than 25 either,indoors i dont heat at night at all,even when keeping juvies active over winter.

ok ill leave it there for now,lol,probably send u all to sleep,lol

[Leigh]

NO mate, I could read it all without the spacing,thanks for the answers, very interesting that they survive so close to the surface and under ice, I'm gonna have another look at that lot now.

[Richard.C]

well the odd hail storm,only copt it once the last winter and once the year before,where hail build up hung around the next day or 2,not always icy,im not sure what melb average winter night temp is but its single figures,maybe 6 to 8 degrees

[Leigh]

Can you tell me if Melbourne's nice and sunny, got a geezer keeps informing me of properties there and he reckons the yearly weathers fine, my research tells me it aint much different to here {UK}, often wet, quite cold in winter like under 5<10 oC, with a moderate summer climate.Nice weather's the reason I want to go to Brisbane,and Easterns in the garden,and the gold coast,Australia Zoo,Barrier Reef, ooohhh someone make my dream come true sooner

[Richard.C]

brisbane is the pick if u want good weather,lol,melb is classed as 4 seasons in one day,winters are cool,days probably average 14 in winter,anywhere from 9 to 16 i guess,colder at night,summer gets pretty7 hot though,not consistantly though can get up to 40 then be 22 the next day sort of thing,lol,quite variable,u will see a greater variety of reptiles in brisbane though,australia zoo is pretty good to,been 10 years since ive been there though,alot different today then back then