Can Eggs Be Moved Twice - Should They Be?

[30secondstobob]

After discovering two eggs in my moist hide late last night, I carefully moved them into my homemade incubator that holds a steady 86 degrees. The eggs were laid in sphagnum moss, so I kept them in that, as I relocated them to a deli cup in the incubator. Do I need to move them into some vermiculite or perlite, or can they remain in the sphagnum moss? Should I even bother moving them again? On a side note, the only perlite I can find is made by "miracle grow" and has fertilizer added to it. I doubt this would be good for eggs - probably poison the embryos? Bob

 

[Thorgecko707]

I would move it to vermiculite. Fertilizer is bad.

 

[30secondstobob]

I just hate to move them. (again) I think I'll leave these two the way they are see what happens. I'll buy some some vermiculite to keep on hand in case more eggs are laid in a couple of weeks. Thanks. Bob

 

[JordanAng420]

If you see any negative changes with them, you could always move them to vermiculite. It's going to be difficult to maintain a constant humidity with sphagnum moss alone.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

I honestly think that eggs are more resilient than we think they are. For over 16 years, I have moved eggs from the laybox, into deli cups, into gladware with rare ill-effects. Sometimes they may start collapsing a little if the humidity in the medium isn't quite the same, but the majority of the time I can get them to plump back up by placing a small piece of moist paper towel gently over the eggs for a couple of days.

 

[im faster]

Exactly.. i have tried this once with an egg candling it every few days.. and it hatched just fine..

i HAVE used perlite WITH miracle grow and with 100% hatch rate. (6 eggs my first season)
vermiculite with fertilizer however killed all my eggs

however if you go to lowes they have plane vermiculite.

 

[Enigmatic_Reptiles]

I agree with Marcia that eggs are much hardier than they are credited (so are the geckos). However, that doesn't mean you don't need to still be careful with certain things. If you do continually move them, ensure that they are not turned/rolled. This will almost always kill the embryo. I have moved eggs multiple times throughout the incubation and have had no ill effects. I don't do it on purpose or plan on it, but if I need to I do without hesitation and just get them back in an adequate container asap.

 

[30secondstobob]

The eggs (still in the sphagnum) look exactly the same as when they were laid a few days ago. I'm guessing that's a good sign? I have about two inches of sphagnum below them and a very loose one inch clump on top. It is warm and damp, but not wet. I also have a small dish of water in the incubator to help maintain the humidity. By no means a professional set-up, but it seems to be doing the trick. Temp holding at exactly 87. Bob