2nd clutch fail again :(

[Prakis]

Well my female laid two more on Monday. This time I was ready. Had a lay box set for her and she buried them nicely on the bottom. Got em out and put them in a sealed container with hatchrite then put em in the incubator at 80 degrees. Tonight I see they are collapsing. Pretty sure they aren't going to make it.

Couple questions. Is it necessary to keep water in the incubator for humidity if the container with the eggs is sealed? And can hatchrite be too dry? I only got it a month ago, should still be good. It feels dry but I understand that's how it's supposed to be.

It's only her second clutch ever so I understand they just could have been infertile to begin with. They collapsed so quickly though I'm just making sure it wasn't my fault. Thanks for any suggestions

 

[Gecko_Jay09]

i too have had this problem! my second clutch appears to have failed as well and collapsed within a few hours of being placed in moist vermiculite! now i will have to wait for the next clutch but i could also do with the exact instructions to make sure that the next eggs survive longer than a week!

 

[acpart]

I highly recommend that you use Albeys incubation method which uses perlite. It's not the only way to go, but if you haven't had success so far it might be a better way to start.

The purpose of the water in the incubator isn't for humidity (that's done by the water added to the incubation medium) but for better stabilizing the temperatures.

If you don't have a proportional thermostat for your incubator insuring that the temps are as stable as possible, it would be a good idea to get one.

The only other thing I can suggest is to turn your incubation temperature up slightly to about 81 or 82. I say this because if there are temp fluctuations, I think it's better that the low end doesn't go below 80. I have been incubating at 80 for the past few years and noticed that sometimes the temp went down to 79 or even the high 78's. I prefer lower temps because I'm incubating for female but did turn the temps up a bit so it's centering around 81-82. I have done some other things that may be helping, but this year so far I am having the best year I've ever had.

Good luck

ALiza

 

[Gecko_Jay09]

Thanks ALiza! great help!

 

[Prakis]

Yep, thanks as always Aliza