Egg Advice

[MotleyMorphs]

So this is our first breeding season. I have 3 girls paired with 3 guys and luckily enough one took during ovulation. This is our Gecko Snubs first year laying eggs and she's done an amazing job! So far we've had 3 infertile eggs however her last clutch looked really promising. We're at day 15 and the eggs are looking great, bright red ring, tons of veins. However, the smaller of the two eggs have started to accumulate mold (I've moved it to a separate incubation container so it doesn't contaminate the sibling and removed the mold) and both eggs have now dented. Is there anything I can do to help these guys out and up their chances of survival? Humidity is as 88% so I've decreased humidity a tad just to see if the eggs approve since some of my research says that to much moisture can cause denting just like not enough humidity can.

 

[acpart]

It would be helpful to know more about your incubation setup:
what kind of incubator are you using and if you got a different thermostat/thermometer, what did you get?
What kind of container are the eggs in?
What substrate are the eggs in?

Aliza

 

[MotleyMorphs]

It would be helpful to know more about your incubation setup:
what kind of incubator are you using and if you got a different thermostat/thermometer, what did you get?
What kind of container are the eggs in?
What substrate are the eggs in?

Aliza

I have a little giant incubator with thermostat, and thermometer and a probe placed into the incubation container itself. The eggs are in some basic Tupperware containers with 2 small ventilation holes and I'm using perlite for a substrate.

 

[acpart]

The little giant is similar to a hobovator. Consider making the following changes:
a. make sure you're moistening the perlite according to the instructions here: http://www.albeysreptiles.com/incubate-eggs.htm
b. get rid of the ventilation holes. It's better to use a more airtight container and then to take the cover off for a short time (i.e. 10-30 seconds) every week.
c. Be aware that if the temperature of the room the incubator is in gets higher than the incubation temperature, the temp inside the incubator will rise as well (if you have AC it's not going to happen. I don't have or want AC, so when it got hot during the summer I would have to put my hobovator in the basement).

Also, sometimes eggs look good and even candle OK but then don't develop and it's nothing you did wrong.

Aliza

 

[MotleyMorphs]

Thank you for your advice and I'll make the following changes!

 

[acpart]

Let us know what happens!

Aliza

 

[MotleyMorphs]

UPDATE: Day 26 of incubation

Since making adjustments the most severly dented egg which also had a mold problem has popped itself out and we've continued to wipe off the mold regularly. As for the other egg it is still dented. HOWEVER I candled them today and i belive i've seen signs of significant development inside! I believe that i may have seen babies moving inside during candling!

 

[acpart]

Good luck with them!

Aliza