Question about incubation

Kristof · Sep 20, 2015

Hello everyone! So i have a few question about incubation. I purchased hatchrite for my substrate as thats what was recommended by the person I spoke with at the reptile store (LLLReptiles) I was wondering,

1) do I have to put holes into the deli cup i use."?
2) If i dont poke holes into the cup how often should I air it out?
3) It says i don't need to add water, is this correct? If yes how much, and how often.

Thanks so much!

acpart · Sep 20, 2015

I can't tell you much about hatchrite because I don't use it. However, assuming you get the consistency correct, you shouldn't need holes in the deli cup and you should open it briefly every week of so for air exchange.

Aliza

Kristof · Sep 20, 2015

acpart said:
I can't tell you much about hatchrite because I don't use it. However, assuming you get the consistency correct, you shouldn't need holes in the deli cup and you should open it briefly every week of so for air exchange.

Aliza

Thanks! What would you recommend I use if i didnt use hatchrite ?

Neon Aurora · Sep 20, 2015

Just thought I would add. I had absolutely no success with hatchrite. I had 6 eggs incubated on it, and only 1 hatched. 100% of my eggs incubated on vermiculite hatched.

For me, the problem with hatchrite is that it's already wet. It is harder to know exactly how much water is in there because you can't get it's dry weight. This really messed me up because I live in a desert. Everything loses moisture so quickly here. Hatchrite didn't seem to hold its moisture as well, and was all around harder to work with. Plus, it was twice as expensive as a big bag of vermiculite.

Then again, I've heard of people having a lot of success with hatchrite. I just honestly don't see how it's that different from perlite. It looks the same, feels the same, seems to hold water the same. I dunno. I prefer vermiculite, it works best for my environment.

Kristof · Sep 20, 2015

Neon Aurora said:
Just thought I would add. I had absolutely no success with hatchrite. I had 6 eggs incubated on it, and only 1 hatched. 100% of my eggs incubated on vermiculite hatched.

For me, the problem with hatchrite is that it's already wet. It is harder to know exactly how much water is in there because you can't get it's dry weight. This really messed me up because I live in a desert. Everything loses moisture so quickly here. Hatchrite didn't seem to hold its moisture as well, and was all around harder to work with. Plus, it was twice as expensive as a big bag of vermiculite.

Then again, I've heard of people having a lot of success with hatchrite. I just honestly don't see how it's that different from perlite. It looks the same, feels the same, seems to hold water the same. I dunno. I prefer vermiculite, it works best for my environment.

I live down by the border, so it's pretty dry out here. Do you think i should go with something else? Would you chose perlite or vermiculite? Whats the ratio for water to vermiculite

Neon Aurora · Sep 21, 2015

I personally like vermiculite. It just worked really well. Hatchrite is already wet, but they don't tell you how much water is in it. What if there is a small hole in the bag and it lost water? For people who live in dry climates, this can really mess you up.

The water to vermiculite ratio is .8 to 1 by weight. So you can tare the container you're going to be incubating in or you can just write down the weight of the container and subtract it from the total weight after you've added your vermiculite. Then pour in the amount of dry vermiculite that you want to use (usually an inch or two). Write down the weight of the vermiculite (for later reference) and then multiply it by .8. The number you get is how much water you're going to add. So then you can add that amount of water using a spray bottle (spray bottle is best because you can get it really accurate by using tiny sprays when you start nearing that number). Make sure you keep track of how much the container weighed, how much the vermiculite weighed, how much the water weighed, and also how much it all weighed together.

Seal up your container (no holes) and you're good to go. You'll need to open the container once a week to let fresh air in, and you may lose water in this process. Keep a close eye on your eggs and if you notice them denting at all, then you'll need to remove the eggs for a moment (I like to keep an extra incubation container in the incubator so you have a safe, temperature controlled area to put them). If you wrote down how much everything weighed together, than you can just put your container (with no eggs in it) on your scale and add water until it's back at its original weight.

This is the method I had the most success with, and I struggled with others in my dry climate.

Sungoldgecko · Sep 21, 2015

Hi, I notice that you have a lot of question about incubation and substrate to use. I am going to direct you to a link that I follow and I find it practical and useful. Here is the link Albey's How To Incubate Leopard Gecko Eggs. It is a helpful instruction and guide. If you don't know Albey's. They are one of the great leopard gecko breeder's. Hope this will solve some of the mysteries lurking in your mind.

Kristof · Sep 21, 2015

Sungoldgecko said:
Hi, I notice that you have a lot of question about incubation and substrate to use. I am going to direct you to a link that I follow and I find it practical and useful. Here is the link Albey's How To Incubate Leopard Gecko Eggs. It is a helpful instruction and guide. If you don't know Albey's. They are one of the great leopard gecko breeder's. Hope this will solve some of the mysteries lurking in your mind.

Thank you!

Kristof · Sep 21, 2015

Neon Aurora said:
I personally like vermiculite. It just worked really well. Hatchrite is already wet, but they don't tell you how much water is in it. What if there is a small hole in the bag and it lost water? For people who live in dry climates, this can really mess you up.

The water to vermiculite ratio is .8 to 1 by weight. So you can tare the container you're going to be incubating in or you can just write down the weight of the container and subtract it from the total weight after you've added your vermiculite. Then pour in the amount of dry vermiculite that you want to use (usually an inch or two). Write down the weight of the vermiculite (for later reference) and then multiply it by .8. The number you get is how much water you're going to add. So then you can add that amount of water using a spray bottle (spray bottle is best because you can get it really accurate by using tiny sprays when you start nearing that number). Make sure you keep track of how much the container weighed, how much the vermiculite weighed, how much the water weighed, and also how much it all weighed together.

Seal up your container (no holes) and you're good to go. You'll need to open the container once a week to let fresh air in, and you may lose water in this process. Keep a close eye on your eggs and if you notice them denting at all, then you'll need to remove the eggs for a moment (I like to keep an extra incubation container in the incubator so you have a safe, temperature controlled area to put them). If you wrote down how much everything weighed together, than you can just put your container (with no eggs in it) on your scale and add water until it's back at its original weight.

This is the method I had the most success with, and I struggled with others in my dry climate.

Thanks so much! I think I'll use vermiculite now

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