Posted by:
DMong
at Mon Jul 5 17:41:37 2010 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by DMong ]
Okay, the "riot act" goes as follows..LOL!
Simply put them in a slightly moistened container of vermiculite medium that has had water VERY SLOWLY added to it as it is mixed thoroughly so that it just stays clumped together when squeezed. You DO NOT want to see any water dripping at all from this, or you will need to add more vermiculite until the correct moisture consistency is reached again.
Then dimple the medium slightly so it sort of creates an indented "cradle" for the eggs. Then work a bit of the vermiculite around them so that they are basically 1/4 to 1/3rd buried just a tad. They will absorb all the needed moisture like a sponge.
Keep them at about 80 to 81 or so degrees(a bit safer if temps should spike for whatever reason). If you see them starting to swell, bulge, or distort any, they are too moist, so you need to add more vermiculite so they don't drown the embryo or rupture.
Also, if you see them start to indent, they are too dry, so you need to add just a bit more water to the mix.
Put them(and the mixture) into a small plastic container, and add just a few tiny air holes approx. 1/8th inches in diameter, with a drill bit, or melt the holes with a thin soldering iron(which is what I do).
At these temps(80 to 81 degrees), they should hatch in approximately 56 to 60 days.
If the eggs are in a real tall pile, and you cannot safely pry the upper one's apart from the rest, drape some moistened sphagnum moss ofer them by wetting it, then wringing it out real well by squeezing tightly in your fist, then fluff it up, and drape over the eggs like it might actually be in a natural setting to the best of your ability.
good luck!
~Doug
draping the sphagnum moss is what I had to do with this big tall pile of eggs, it works great!. just keep your eye on them every several days to see how the eggs are reacting to your mix, and draped moss if need be. If they are all at roughly the same level, just dimple them into the vermiculite, and they should be fine. Neighboring eggs get moisture from the other's to a certain extent when they are stuck together anyway, just make sure you keep an eye on them now and then, and tend to them accordingly as nedded.
and BINGO!!, there ya go!..
ps, you may notice many of these eggs are marked at the top. This is to ensure that if they should accidentally roll for whatever reason when taking some out to add a bit more water, they can immediately be re-oriented back to their original position to prevent the embryo from drowning.
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing" 
my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com
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RE: Eggs n incubation - DMong, Mon Jul 5 17:41:37 2010