For those of you who use GEOs/SIMs

[featheredfamilyfriends]

I've heard people say they prefer plain water when using a GEO or SIM....do you guys use deli cups with or without holes?

I know with perlite on the GEO site it says to make a small thumb tack hole...but will condensation at the top cause mold on eggs?

I haven't had the best of luck with my eggs so far this year. Had 6 duds, several due to hatch in the next 4 weeks.... I candle them and they look fertile(yellow with pink veins around 2 weeks) but then its like the embryo dies. My room temp stays 80-84 generally, is that just too much of a fluctuation? My first 2 eggs I successfully hatched last year, they were buried in coco fiber, same container they were laid in. I used my bird brooder(which fluctuated from 78-84)...I ended up with 2 males but they hatched no problem..

I dunno if its my inexperienced females or what but even 2 eggs from my proven females have been duds. I've been incubating in perlite(using the 1 to .8 ratio) at room temps.

I'm setting up my Reptibator and GEOs now...Should I move the 1 mth old eggs to a GEO or leave them in the "egg oraganizer"(which is essentially a bead organizer with perlite in each square) and just put it in the reptibator....

For those of you using a GEO/SIM and an incubator do you still monitor humidity in the incubator? What should humidity be?? I'm right on the FL/GA line so it tends to stay humid here.

 

[featheredfamilyfriends]

Oh and last question, does anyone know of a site with some pictures of fertile eggs at different ages(like 2 weeks, then 3 weeks, then 4 weeks, etc). I raise birds so have seen just about every stage of eggs, thats actually how I estimate my bird eggs hatch dates(since they look clear til like 6 days old...by 14 days lots of pink veins and by 21 days dark red/black from baby bird blocking light)....

 

[DrCarrotTail]

I've been using all containers with no holes and have had a 100% hatch rate burying eggs in 1:0.8 perlite to water ratio so far. I'm using SIMs for the first time with my snake's eggs (if she ever lays them!!!) and heard you do not have to monitor humidity and can use straight water but if you do, you need to be careful that it doesn't splash on the eggs when you move the container. Since I'm a clutz and the containers need to be opened once a week or so to refresh the air within them, I'm choosing to use perlite saturated with water instead of straight water.

How are you measuring your temps? If you ended up with two males I would check the temps you're incubating at as below 84 you might get a male but should expect the majority to be females. I might invest in an accurate Infrared Temp Gun or high quality probe thermometer to be sure your temps are what you're thinking.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

I don't know of any sites that have a good progression of development but the eggs should get darker and fuller as they age. Unlike birds that are warm blooded, gecko eggs develop at a rate that's based on temperature so they can take anywhere from 30-100 days or more to hatch so knowing what they should look like on an given day or week is a bit trickier.

 

[OnlineGeckos]

Humidity should be around 80% in the incubator, but I don't actively monitor them. If you have a decent incubator the humidity won't be an issue. You do want to make sure your temperature does not fluctuate too much. A 4-5 degrees swing is too much, try to cut it down to 1-2 degrees swing. Temperature fluctuations most definitely will affect the embryo's development.

I use GEO's with perlite, I used to measure the water very carefully but you get used to seeing about how much you need. These days I don't measure them, you just get a feel of what they should look like when you fill them up. The GEO's I got came pre-drilled with 2 holes on the lid, and I never open them to cycle the air or re-add water.

It helps to have an incubator that holds temperature rather steady and holds humidity well. I do keep a cup of water in the incubator, that's the only thing I refill once the water evaporates. If you have mold growth sometimes you can wipe them off gently. It's possible your humidity is too high, but then it's also possible the eggs are just no good.

 

[featheredfamilyfriends]

When I used my brooder(made for birds, fan heat, it always varied a lot in different places...Its a larger brooder, prolly twice the space of your average incubator. But it hatched the first and only 2 eggs I successfully had last year...so thats why I was thinking it shouldnt be fluctuating temps but who knows.

I'm leaning towards duds to begin with(even though some looked like they had distinctive pink lines) mainly because they wouldnt mold or dent until like 7 weeks old but none so far have gotten dark like a developing embryo...I'm gonna go candle my 1 month old eggs again...just to see if any have gotten dark. Several look nice and white still...Am I properly assuming that a "squishy" white egg is a dud? Or like a denty and squishy white egg, cause those I have been throwing out(especially if yellow looking when candled and I know they are 40 days plus).

***About what incubation age do they start getting dark if incubating around 80-82F??

Thanks for letting me know about water touching the eggs. I agree...I'm klutzy so I think I'll go with the perlite method(plus I have plenty of it)... I ordered my GEOs without the deli cups...just the GEOs themselves from Pangea...since I probably have like 35 cups as it is... A few of my delis have a few holes in the side(with no holes in lids) and...some have holes in the lids(with no holes in side cups), course if I mix/match I can get a deli with no holes.

 

[featheredfamilyfriends]

Oh and just to add, I do measure the perlite to water ratio on a scale but there is forever condensation on the lid. Even with wiping that off none of the eggs dented like they were dry.

I just checked on my incubating eggs, one was dented and moldy so I tossed that one(it was about 5 wks)...The others were all laid 5/10 to 6/11. Again none really had dark spots yet. All were red or pinkish except for 2 that were yellow. Two looked yellow with some pink veins(the ones laid 6/11).

***So just approximately if they are solid yellow when candled at what "age" would you toss them?

 

[DrCarrotTail]

I'm incubating my eggs at about 81 and seem to be hathcing about 65 days in. I have had a couple hatch around 56 days and some around 70 though. For some reason the SHTs seem to hatch faster than the albinos - but it could just be due to where their tupperware is in the incubator. I can see a distinct bulls eye the day they're laid when I candle them. They are definitely about half dark after a month and 70-100% dark when they hatch. They also increase in size noticeably as they mature. Most of my females lay eggs that are about 3-4g and I recently had a 11g egg hatch a 3g baby. It's clutch mate's egg was 6.5g and the baby was 3.6g at hatching...go figure. Give me a sec and I can post a few pics of my eggs when I candled them

 

[DrCarrotTail]

They may not be the best pictures but these were some of my eggs that were incubated around 81 (possibly a couple degrees higher as I was using a hovabator at the time)

This is about two days after being laid:



About 20 days:



about 40 days:



The day before hatching:

 

[acpart]

I use the SIM's. I tried using only water crystals at first, but found that I wasn't getting the desired effect --condensation on the side of the boxes. Now I use perlite with a whole lot of water: the .8:1 ratio doesnt work for the SIMS which require a lot more water. I don't really candle my eggs, just put them in and hope for the best. My incubation temps have been creeping up over the last few years and now I'm incubating at about 85. The soft squishy eggs are probably infertile. It's worth holding on to the dented eggs. I had at least 4 healthy hatches early in the season from eggs I was sure were too dented to have anything in them. At 85 my incubation time for the leopard geckos is just about exactly 7 weeks (49 days).
It will be interesting to see if you have more success with an incubator, though the fan, if you use one, may dry the eggs out too much.
Aliza