Sorry to hear this. Your incubation set-up sounds essentially okay. I've not had this problem myself, so my thoughts are shots in the dark....

How far apart were the eggs within the vermiculite? Could be the stronger ones hatching caused the others to synchronize and hatch prematurely. They dont always have to hatch at the same time, and keeping them a few inches separated tends to reduce the likelyhood of one hatchling triggering the rest to hatch.

Did the moisture level increase or decrease any after the first four hatched? or were some higher up or less covered than others? Too much moisture can sofocate, too little and they have trouble slitting the shell. Some people mist the eggs when they show signs of sweating and hatching is imminently expected. I dont though, and have never had any not hatch, so perhaps my environment has higher humidity, or perhaps this step is just not necessary.

If you encounter the problem again, you could try to manually slit the eggsshells yourself, to help the little ones out.



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Sandra
BC Canada

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