Incubating temps, different opinions?

[katie_]

So my gravid female is DIGGING and I'm preparing my incubator.
I have heard that lowing temps are best and you can incubate at room temperature.

My air conditioner is set at 73. Is this okay?
Would it be better for me to incubate them, and keep the temps more constant?

What do you guys do? A local breeder told me he has better luck with the incubator.

Also, when you place the egg in vemiculite, do you bury 3/4's of the egg? Or do you cover the whole thing?

 

[EverEvolvingExotics]

I've never had crested eggs so I can only go by what I've read and talked to other breeders about. The good thing about incubators is the consistency. The good the about crested gecko eggs is that they don't need to be one exact temp the entire time. The HUGE plus to having an incubator for cresties is if you have one that can cool. Most people don't want to spend a couple hundred dollars a month for the energy bill so it's much hotter in their place resulting in fast incubation periods. I've read keeping them around 72-73 F results in better overall structure. Obviously it will take longer for them to hatch out, but you will have better looking babies to sell or to holdback.

 

[katie_]

Its pretty warm here at the moment, and I have my air on.
I don't have a incubator that cools, I have a Reptibator by zoo med. I think I'll set them at 73?

 

[darkridder]

Eggs can incubate fine up to around 76, then the temp is to the point where the incubation period isnt long enough. But it has been proven so far that lower temps tend to hatch out larger healthier babies, and babies with good head and crest structure, and that is when incubated around 68/69. I try to shoot for 70-71 as I do not keep them in a cooled incubator, instead mine are at room temp. If you are finding your geckos are hatching around 70 days or less I would try to find somewhere a little cooler, you really want to shoot for 85 days +. When incubated around 68/69 they tend to incubate for about 100-120 days.

 

[katie_]

Looks like my a/c is going to run a little harder.

 

[darkridder]

I find at around 70/71 my eggs tend to incubate for around 90 days, forgot to mention that.