I've decided that mother nature is against me this season.

[Khrysty]

I'm down to one egg left in my borrowed 'bator. None of the others made it, period, and I'm nearly positive my girls are done laying. They're starting to put on weight again (back up to 65-70g), starting to develop calcium pockets, and I don't see any eggs.

And now this one last egg's denting.

I thought it was laid in May, so the denting would be due to hatching, but it turns out this baby was laid June 24th. Its only been in the 'bator for 28 days. For the first two weeks of its incubation period it was incubated between 84 and 87 (the temp flux is the reason for the new incubator), and now it's been in a new incubator between the temps of 89 and 91 for a week.

The perlite it's laying in is so moist that I'm afraid putting more water in will result in mold (or a swimming egg--i'm not kidding here, it's really wet). But the egg is still denting hardcore on the sides and bottom? Like, its just deflated, I guess. There's only room for the little baby gecko in there, not whatever else puffs out the egg lol.

I weighed it, and it kept dancing from 3g to 3.2g so I know the baby in there is still alive for now.

I'm so scared I'm gonna lose my last egg, guys, and I could really use some advice.

 

[thestack510]

Change out the substrate and make sure it's not too moist. Cover the egg in peat moss and lightly mist the top. Most times this will help the egg plump back up. Good luck Khrysty.

 

[Khrysty]

Idk, Ken, the egg isn't dry or anything. I don't have peat moss but I can do a moist paper towel. Changed out the substrate--its not too wet anymore.

 

[Gregg M]

Khrysty, honestly, I would not be putting the blame on mother nature at this point... The majority of the time, when eggs do not hatch or die during incubation, it has more to do with human error...

I see 3 things wrong you have done so far in your one paragraph...

#1- You switched the egg from an incubator that was incubating the egg @ 84 into an incubator that is now hittings a temp that is one degree over the maximum you should be incubating leopard gecko eggs... Plus you did it during a very vital developmental stage...

#2- It seems you are incubating the egg in a substrate that is way too wet...

#3- You are handling the egg to weigh it...

My advice to you is to make sure your incubator is running properly, make sure you incubation medium is producing the proper humidity level, and leave the eggs alone once they are set in the incubation container... There is no reason to be messing with eggs after that point!!!

 

[Khrysty]

1. The first incubator only got to 84 on particularly cold nights, was usually at 87.
2. The substrate was only "too wet" for about an hour or so. I thought to correct the denting I'd add more water, quickly realized that was a mistake, and changed out the substrate.
3. The egg was only handled during moving, that once.

 

[Gregg M]

Yeah but do you see the combination of all those three things increase your chances of loosing the egg even more so than just one of those things???

Any one of those things you did can cause an egg to die... It does not take much to disrupt development at critical stages like the first few weeks...

All you can do @ this point is hope for the best and not mess with the egg...

 

[Khrysty]

it makes sense, Gregg, if I'd lost this egg. Which I haven't, yet.

But it doesn't account for the other 12 I lost unless the temp flux alone is what killed them.

 

[Gregg M]

That could be it Khrysty... Temp fluctuation can kill eggs for sure...
What I was trying to say in my post to you was to stop doing the things you were doing with the egg... I was not pointing out your errors to be a smart ass... I was pointing them out sou you would have less to worry about...

 

[Khrysty]

I didn't think you were being a smart ass. I just knew I was doing those things wrong, and I'd corrected them for the most part. Thanks for helping, though.

 

[Stitchex]

I can't really offer advice, as I haven't incubated any eggs for a while. All I can say is this; good luck! Just make sure you're not opening the lid too much to the Hova, as that can sometimes cause temperature fluctuations.:main_thumbsup:

 

[Khrysty]

Thanks for the good luck wishes , also thanks again for letting me borrow the hova.

Saw one of my females digging last night, so here's to hoping there's at least another clutch on the way!

 

[Stitchex]

No problem, I hope it'll work well for you!

*crosses fingers for the female to lay more eggs*

 

[ILoveGeckos14]

One of the guys where I get my feeders from said that the people that are the best breeders are sometimes the ones that care the least. They just put the eggs in the incubator and leave them alone and those tend to have the highest hatch rates.

 

[pkrtech]

Khrysty, you are not rotating the egg in any way when transferring/looking at the eggs are you ?

 

[Khrysty]

Khrysty, you are not rotating the egg in any way when transferring/looking at the eggs are you ?

Nope, the tops are marked as soon as they're put in the incubator. With non-toxic tempera paint pens

 

[Khrysty]

Un.Real. So the egg, the one egg I had left, molded over and started to stink to high heaven. Didn't notice it until this morning, because I havent even opened the incubator since I moved the egg into it.

So I cut it open.

A fully formed, super tiny, dead snow.

 

[Zynx_Keekeio]

Oh no I'm so sorry krysty!!!! I know how you feel about the snow, I opened an egg and same thing, don't give up though because it is so worth it, maybe you cab find a gravid female from someone?

 

[Khrysty]

I thought about it, but I really need to save up my money for school next month. I guess I'll just focus on making sure my breeders are 100% perfectly healthy before next season and try again in March.

 

[Kristi23]

I'm so sorry.

 

[Gregg M]

One of the guys where I get my feeders from said that the people that are the best breeders are sometimes the ones that care the least. They just put the eggs in the incubator and leave them alone and those tend to have the highest hatch rates.

It not that the best breeders dont care... Its that for the most part the better more successful breeders know not to mess with eggs while they are incubating... It takes time to learn not to get over excited and over worried to the point where you mess with the clutches and constantly check them...

The more you leave them alone, the better your chances are of hatching them as long as their environment was set up properly before hand...

Like I said, when eggs fail to hatch in captivity it has more to do with human error and almost nothing to do with mother nature...