How long can a hatchling stay in the deli cup & incubator before I should worry?

[JordanAng420]

Hypothetical situation:
Let's say i'm working from 8am - 7pm around the days my eggs are due. They've been at a steady temperature and I expect them to hatch around June 16th or so. I'm worried that my eggs will decide to hatch one morning after I go to work (I'm hoping they'll pick a day I have off, but for some reason murphy's law always kicks my rear end :main_laugh, and there's no one there to take them out of their deli cups in the incubator. I'm worried about suffocation. How long can they be in the little deli cups in the incubator before I should start to worry that they'll die?

 

[Keith N]

Maia, I have had them hatch over night and let them sit most of the day until I could get them out that night with no problem. The main thing to look after is that they dont uproot some of your other eggs. Hope that helps

 

[JordanAng420]

Thank you for the peace of mind, Keith! That makes me feel a bit better. However, now I have another problem to think about. I sure hope the first little bugger doesn't uproot the others!

 

[Keith N]

The other thing you can do is as they get close to hatch date is move them to a secondary deli cup so if they do and you are not there then they will be o.k. I usually do this when we have room to keep the same thing from happening.

 

[jermh1]

overnight is no problem, I start to worry when I go away for the weekend, I have been lifting one edge of the lid, no problems with eggs drying out or hatchlings dying.

 

[robin]

over the weekend is not going to hurt. the thing i worry about is them ingesting any vermiculite.

 

[serialzombie]

My first clutch (ever) hatched some time on the night of the fourth. I didn't check the incubator until before I had to leave for work (around three pm). After getting home from work at midnight, I went to move them to their hatchling tubs, but they were too skittish, so I left them overnight and moved them the next morning.

Moral of the story, I think they'll be fine.