Help with eggs

milhazes

New Member
Messages
17
Location
Portugal
Hello!
I have two eggs in a incubator with vermiculite substrate. It past almost one week, and since they were the first eggs my female had, I didn't know much what to expect. I started to read some threads, about candling, etc. I saw that at least one looked like it was fertile, nevertheless I incubated both.

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These are the two eggs in day 1.

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and these are two images of one of the eggs past one week. The little grains attached to the egg is from the vermiculate itself.

Seems that the egg is shrinking and becoming more dented. I see that I have humidity in the incubator, since I see water condensating on the top. Temperature is fixed on 29.5 degrees celcium.

Any tips or sugestions on this?

Thank you in advance.
 

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Neon Aurora

New Member
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1,376
Location
New Mexico
Those eggs are definitely no good at this point. They look really dried out. First clutches are often infertile, but honestly the first picture you posted looks like two good eggs.

Ideally, you should have a ratio of .8 parts water to 1 part vermiculite by weight. Your containers should be closed with no air holes. Usually eggs mold when they go bad if your moisture conditions are correct, which is why I am thinking yours are not.
 

milhazes

New Member
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17
Location
Portugal
Thank you for the quick Repply . I only have one hole for the thermostat sensor...

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Neon Aurora

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1,376
Location
New Mexico
It's best to not have the thermostat probe inside of the actual egg boxes. Instead, use the thermostat probe to regulate the temperature inside the incubator (not the egg boxes). here is a link as to why: Editor's Question Answered: Incubator Temperature Control - Gecko Time - Gecko Time

What I do is regulate the temp in the incubator with the thermostat and I have an empty egg box filled with vermiculite and correct amount of water. I don't put any eggs in this one. I use a digital thermometer with a probe and close the wire in the lid so there is no need for a hole. I use this empty egg box to make sure the temps in the egg boxes are good. This ensures your moisture conditions in the boxes that have eggs in them will always be correct.

Are you using the .8 parts water to 1 part vermiculite by weight?
 
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milhazes

New Member
Messages
17
Location
Portugal
Nice! I see that I made a not soo eficient setup. I didn't expect my female to lay those eggs, so I made a small improvised incubator from:
- A reptile heat pad I had extra
- Vermiculite I bough for plants
- A tupperware in wich I filled with half the height with the vermiculite.

The ratio I used was actually more than 1:0.8. It looked that the substrate was too dry for me so I added more water.
I see that I may had make some very bad mistakes here.

Here is a pic of the improvised setup...

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Neon Aurora

New Member
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New Mexico
If you didn't expect your female to lay eggs, are you sure they are fertile? Has she been with a male?

It's usually best to put the container in something insulating, such as a styrofoam box and regulate the temperature in there.

It does look quite humid in your container (probably a bit too humid), so I'm not sure why the eggs look do dried out.
 

milhazes

New Member
Messages
17
Location
Portugal
Yes she has been with a male. He (7 months) was introduced to her (1.5 years) 2 months ago. I noticed that she was the dominant one. Maybe because he was juvenile. My surprise arose from the fact that the male seemed so juvenile in his behaviour, and still these eggs came to light. When I candled them, I could see red veins in one of them.

One question... does high humidity cause eggs to go dented and hard and look like this? Because my common sense says it otherwise.
 

Neon Aurora

New Member
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1,376
Location
New Mexico
Oh yes, a 7 month old male can certainly mate with a female successfully.

Sometimes eggs don't behave in the way you would logically think. I did the same thing as you in my first season and added more water to the substrate because I was using Hatchrite (supposed to have moisture in it already, but impossible to tell how much) and I thought it needed more. Most of my eggs that season dented and died and the problem was definitely too much water. Only managed to hatch 3.

I use 0.8:1 water to vermiculite by weight and have had near 100% hatch rate. That is, of course, with a Herpstat to regulate the temperature perfectly. Both of these factors play a significant role.

But anyways, TLDR; Yes, excess moisture levels seem to be able to cause eggs to dent and die.
 
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milhazes

New Member
Messages
17
Location
Portugal
Ok, thank you. Hopefully I will be able to do better in the next batch of eggs. BTW, when a female gets to lay eggs, what is the time period between each pair of eggs layd? Thank you very much
 

michael.a.wyton

New Member
Messages
70
Location
CA
Should I be concerned then my female hasn't laid her second clutch yet and it's been 4 weeks to the day.

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Neon Aurora

New Member
Messages
1,376
Location
New Mexico
Not necessarily. I've had females go pretty long between clutches. But you should definitely watch her for lethargy, weight loss, straining, etc. This could indicate egg binding.
 

michael.a.wyton

New Member
Messages
70
Location
CA
She's in real good shape and eating a ton and taking in calcium when she feels she needs it from a bowl in her terranium but thanks for the advice I'll watch her closely.

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