How is your 09 season going?

[acpart]

Last season we had many tragic stories of poor egg production, infertile eggs, fetal death, hatchling death and deformities. I had a lot of these experiences as well, and we theorized that at least some of the problem could be due to tainted mealworms. I know it's kind of early, but I'm wondering how everyone's season is going compared to last year. So far, I'm having a better season for the following reasons:

--I have had my earliest first hatch of the season ever (3/29)
--For the first time I've had success with a different species besides leopard geckos (coleonyx)
--While some eggs are going bad, most of my eggs seem to be doing well.

I don't know what this will mean for the rest of the season, but I'm feeling encouraged.

Aliza

 

[Blizzard Lizard]

My Blazing Blizzard eggs are still cooking and all looks well. I'm feeding supers and have them on filtered water.

 

[Baoh]

Still too early to tell for me. Was the contaminant identity ever released? If it is lipid soluble, then there could be residual problems as fat stores are accessed. I have a number of eggs that are close to hatching, so it should be a better year for me, but that's not valid until it happens.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

So far, my very first leo hatchling died coming out of the egg. I am waiting for my second hatchling of the season...

 

[shadowx362]

Lets just say I switched from crickets to mealworms late last year and I have had a 50/50 hatch rate Most eggs start out fertile and to later find out they have died. I also had my first "real" deformity this year which was a nasty eye lid deformity and two babies didn't make it out of the egg entirely.
I am using the same incubation methods as the last two seasons so I don't know what up. Trusting that there is nothing in the mealworms anymore I would guess its the nutritional difference? I am feeding more roaches to my geckos to hopefully help out. I just hope things get better.....

 

[Barbel]

My season is okay I guess. This is my first real breeding season. I had some babies last year on accident (female was actually a male). Most of my eggs didn't make it and two hatchlings died, but I did manage to raise two healthy babies.
So far this year, my first clutch hatched with one normal and one mack snow, which I am so proud of, and they are both very feisty! The MS is eating great and the normal seems to be a snacker. I have had to throw away 5 eggs so far, but I have 8 incubating right now and so far they all look good. I can't wait to see what else comes out!

 

[727geckokid]

I have had a good season so far.. First Clutch hatched and are already at 10 grams a piece and they arent even a month old!!!! I Am Still waiting on my Second clucth to hatch (Any day now) I have a total of 12 clutches(24 eggs) Cooking, All appear to be fertile and growing. I Always Incubate my First Clutch of the season for male, just because i cant wait for the babies to get here.. (Its kinda like a Lil tradition I have done it for the last 5 seasons) I have only had 2 Infertile clutches both came from First Time Females but their second and third clutches are looking good.

I wish everyone the Best of Luck.... The Show off your leos section is getting pretty Busy :main_thumbsup::main_thumbsup:

 

[Baoh]

Most eggs start out fertile and to later find out they have died.

I have been seeing a surprising amount of this. With what I'm seeing, it either manifest very early with a paling/fading/degradation of the initial embryo or a bit more development (around a week or so's worth) and then degradation that looks like a very slow red event horizon/blast radius, with the center fading out and the edges having hints of coagulated red blood. Basically, good eggs are going bad right alongside those of their clutchmates. Sometimes, both eggs sour. Sometimes, only one and the other develops as it should. No differences in incubation medium or method, although I have noticed there is a slightly better development continuation outcome so far when the eggs are incubated at 90F than ~82. Even then, it's only the difference of a few eggs, so it's not necessarily even significant. Many of the breeders were obviously raised and/or fattened during last year's fiasco, a number of which directly experienced problems when breeding last year.

We'll see. No teratoma twins or ectopic organ development this year, at least.

 

[DarthGekko]

So far so good. We have hatched 40+ Leo's and 8 Crested Geckos. I do have breeder's eating the vermeculite in the lay boxes though. I am switching them to paper towels till I get some advice from a senior breeder..... someone help! Other than that pretty good. Of the 40 Leo's we got 2 Nova's from my Tremper Enigma male that was Poss het Raptor!

 

[727geckokid]

I do have breeder's eating the vermeculite in the lay boxes though. I am switching them to paper towels till I get some advice from a senior breeder..... someone help!

I had this Problem about 5 years ago i have since switched to Eco Earth (Coco Fiber) And i havent had a Problem since.

 

[Kristi23]

I've had quite a few eggs go bad this season. They've all been from first time breeders though. I'm not doing anything different from last year. The geckos that have hatched are good so far. We do have one tail kink, but that's it. That hatchling hatched 3-5 days early and it's a little smaller than the other three. My first two are a week old and eating a ton already. I don't have too many eggs incubating because of throwing so many out. Hopefully that will change soon. One of my females has laid 4 clutches. The first three all went bad and moldy. The fourth clutch is still looking good, so hopefully they'll both hatch.

One problem I've noticed is that some of the eggs are really dented before I get to them. I spray the hides every night, so there is enough moisture. The dents on these eggs never come out and they end up going bad. I'm not sure why. There is calcium in the tubs 24/7 for my females. Some of their eggs have been fine, but not many. I'm having this problem with two or three of my girls.

 

[darkridder]

My females havent even started ovulating yet : /

 

[Baoh]

Just had a RAPTOR het Blizzard hatch that was missing its lower jaw. Anyone know the name of last year's feeder contaminant? I would like to check something.

 

[jakemyster44]

so far one out of two eggs hatched. The other one was VERY under developed. I missed the second clutch, and they dried up :main_no: but I guess thats on me. Then one of the two eggs in the third clutch looks good, I still have the other in though beacuse who knows. So heres my (probable) stats:

normal x normal=
total eggs: 4 (not including ones I missed)
Fertile: 2
Infertile: 2

Bold stripe 50% het, RAPTOr x normal=
total eggs: 1
Fertile: 1
Infertile: 0

Bold stripe 50% het. RAPTOr x Mack Snow 66% het. Tremper, 50% het. Eclipse=
Total eggs: 2
Fertile: 2
Infertile: 0

So decent I guess, I'm just happy with my crosses this year! I cave other females who have yet to lay...

 

[chrisvanaken]

I have not had any hatch yet. Cross my fingers, any day now. I have 15 leopard gecko eggs, 2 gargoyle gecko eggs and 3 crested gecko eggs cooking. My Phelsuma Abbotti Chekei are mating like crazy but I still have not found any glued eggs. I am expecting my first clutch of bearded dragon eggs in about two weeks. I am super excited about this season!!!

 

[ElapidSVT]

i'm still waiting on the hatching to start!

I have 48 eggs incubating at this point, there were a few bad ones this season, but nothing of any concern.

re: vermiculite
the leos seem to pass it easily and the stuff is made up of metal oxides so it's of very low solubility. nothing to worry about imo.

 

[JordanAng420]

This season has been terrible for me. I have two breeders this season (one proven) who so far have both given me two clutches of slugs. Last year it was fertile, fertile, fertile, every 3 weeks...no such luck at all this year, and the future isn't lookin so good either.

 

[shadowx362]

Eggs so far this year, 54. Those are ONLY the ones who actually made it into the incubator. I would say at least 10+ eggs did not.

18 have hatched
-3 have hatched with deformities
16 of the 54 eggs have died in the incubator
The rest are to be determined......

 

[Baoh]

Had another Mack Snow hatch yesterday morning. Little thing. 1.22 grams.

So far:

MS(likely)EclipsehetTremperhetRainwaterhetPatternless - 1.41g
MS(possibly)EclipsehetTremperhetRainwaterhetPatternless (deceased)
MSPatternless - 3.0g
RAPTORhetBlizzard (euthanized due to lacking mandible)
MackSnow50%hetTremper - 1.22g

Have bunches more incubating and have had several slugs as well as a great number of "disintegrating" embryos.

 

[Khrysty]

So far I've had a total of 3 clutches of eggs from first time breeders--one of which had been WAY too young to breed in the first place (most of you know the story behind that)

Her clutch was infertile from the start.

My second female just laid her second clutch today. All looks good with those eggs. One egg from her first clutch might be going bad, but we're leaving it in the incubator until we know for sure.

So the count is around 3 or 4 for 6 so far this year.