Incubating method? Will it work?

LeoGirl575

LeoGirl575

Member
Messages
206
Location
Canada
Okay, for starters, I have NOT started breeding. I'm just curious.

I read on this one website a certain method of incubation: You can have a tub of water, put an aquarium heater inside the water, and heat it to the desired temperature for the sex of leos you want. Then, you put another smaller container in the tub of water, that has perlite or some other incubation media inside of it, that is slightly moist. Then I guess you put a lid on the bigger container, with no holes, and just lift it occasionally for air exchange. This website didn't specify.

So one of my questions is: Would this work? It seems like it could work very well, considering the eggs would be receiving all the humidity they need, and it's a good and easy way to keep the temp even - because aquarium heaters have built in thermostats.

Anyhow, my point is - I want to one day breed leos, and I really want to know if this method would work, before I try it and end up messing up some perfectly healthy eggs.
I also have all the supplies needed for this, considering I have tons of aquariums, and have extra really high quality heaters lying around everywhere.

If this could work, I'll ask a couple more questions that have to do with this technique.

Thank you!! :)

AND: just in case any of you think I'm going crazy...

"An aquarium with an under water heater set to a particular temperature. Have the eggs in a tupperware of some sort, partially sitting in the water."
http://hubpages.com/hub/Breeding_Leopard_Geckos

lol Thanks again!
 
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Johnantny

Johnantny

New Member
Messages
85
That method can and does work- just not safe for all reptile eggs. The method builds excessive amounts of humidity and leo eggs cannot tolerate it much. They wind up saturated and die. Worked well for a friends asian water monitor lizard eggs but they are a tropical species that can handle higher humidity levels. They took 250 days to pip!

Perlite should not have fertilizer added to it. Try ordering straight from the perlite source... do a little research and see its an American mineral, mined in the Sierra Nevadas. Don't breathe in the dry perlite dust- its not healthy for your lungs.

Our SIM container has helped many first time breeders successfully hatch eggs. If you like, we can help you set up and get the results you want. Its pretty dang easy too.

Cheers,

John
 
LeoGirl575

LeoGirl575

Member
Messages
206
Location
Canada
So that's not the right kind of perlite? I knew to look for one without fertilizer... But it just says "sphagnum peat moss, perlite, vermiculite and compost"... Those aren't toxic fertilizers, are they??? :main_huh:

Okay, so there doesn't seem to be a lot of humidity built up at all... This is what my small scale test looks like... At a steady 80F for a whole day so far. (I'm just using rocks as the "eggs", and for weight for now.)
I'm getting a hygrometer (or two) soon.. I'll try to find a digital one for a good price. :)

The initial set up:


The inside of a container... At a steady 80F:


Heating (it's not fully submersible, so I have it out a little bit):



Please no rude comments. I don't have eggs yet, and so far the temp hasn't fluctuated by a degree.
I am not sure of the humidity yet.

Of course, I could turn this in to a larger scale - With a 17 gallon instead of a 2 gallon (I'm a fish breeder - Have tanks lying around everywhere).

Thanks! :)

Oh, and I found this thermometer/hygrometer - Would this work?

http://www.rona.ca/shop/~digital-wi...grometer-bios-weather-448228_!termometer_shop

And what's a good medium to put in the lay box? Can I use coco-fibre for lay box and incubation?
AND (sorry for all the Qs), do I still have to moisten the incubation media with that .8 x weight of incubation media...? Thanks!
 
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A

aburningflame

New Member
Messages
129
Location
Canada
there are a lot of posts on egg incubation medium and egg lay box medium.

for my egg lay box i use verm. - the female has no problems laying eggs in there. just buy a plastic contianer at the dollar store, melt a hole in the lid (melt the edges so theyre not sharp) - fill it with an inch or so of verm, drown it in water, let it sit, drain the excess water. if you squeeze the verimucilite water shouldnt come out of it, but, it should clump a bit

thats the same prep for egg lay box, and egg incubation medium.
ive had 2 clutches so far, both infertile - so cant help to much on the egg incubation, but verm. in the egg lay box works just fine so far - ive talked to many others who agree
 
T

thegeckoguy23

New Member
Messages
2,231
Location
goffstown NH
Haha I was gonna reply to your question on whos albey and then saw khrstys post lol and then i saw the incubator thing and typed the link to lll and saw your post lol.




Jake
 
R

roger

New Member
Messages
2,438
Location
Toronto ,Canada
Johnantny said:
That method can and does work- just not safe for all reptile eggs. The method builds excessive amounts of humidity and leo eggs cannot tolerate it much. They wind up saturated and die. Worked well for a friends asian water monitor lizard eggs but they are a tropical species that can handle higher humidity levels. They took 250 days to pip!

Perlite should not have fertilizer added to it. Try ordering straight from the perlite source... do a little research and see its an American mineral, mined in the Sierra Nevadas. Don't breathe in the dry perlite dust- its not healthy for your lungs.

Our SIM container has helped many first time breeders successfully hatch eggs. If you like, we can help you set up and get the results you want. Its pretty dang easy too.

Cheers
John
Click to expand...

If the smaller container with the eggs is perfectly shut tight the moisture will not get at the eggs just the heat will.this is what u want
 
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