Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a pair of candy cane corns and the female had 14 eggs, with 8 that looks viable. I put them in vermiculite, but I think I have my mix too wet. I am having great pains trying to figure out what my mix should be like. I have a couple of eggs that have started a small patch of fungus growth and I really want to make sure I get at least a few babies out of this. All 8 of the eggs have veins when I flashlight them, so they were at least fertile when they started this and they are about 23 days old. I am currently using Glad disposable tupperware with holes punched like crazy on the top. I am spraying the lid once a day with one squirt from a hair bottle. It seems dry every night.

So how do I get my vermiculite mix right? How do I make sure my eggs are still alive? Should I do anything about the eggs with fungus?

what i did was add a lil water and mix it up until it was moist and not wet.... and it loosely clumped together....
-----
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SNAKIES~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Corns:
.1 Normal (Gertrude)
1. unknown hypo? normal? (Romeo)
1.2 Miami Phase (Hector, Emily, Charlotte) thanks jeff!
1. Amel het Blizzard (Dunesbury)
1. Classic het Hypo, poss het Amel, Anery (Cobra)
1.1 Classics (Henry VIII, Cassy [Emilys babies])
.1 Amel (Pepperoni)
1.1 Hypo zig zags poss het Caramel (Bernard, Abegail)
.1 Classic het Hypo, Stripe (Gracie Lou)

Rats:
1.1 Black rats (Willard, Cecily)

Cal Kings:
1.1 Striped Cal Kings (Dweezil, Skunky)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~LEOPARD GECKOS~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. Normal het Midnight Blizzard (Mr. Spot)
.1 Blizzard (Blitz)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~TURTLE~~~~~~~~~~~~
.1 white cheeked mud (Opel)

best way to tell is when you add water and then grasp a handful of vermiculite and squeeze their should only be one or two drops of water to come out.
adam
-----
hybrid breeders association
0.1. normal corn het hypo,anery
1.0. snow corn het hypo,anery,amel
1.0. amel corn unknown hets(4ft 8inch long)
1.0 sinacorn
1.1 kenyan sand boas
0.1 mbk
0.1 albino nelsons
0.2 normal leo geckos
1.0 blizzard leo gecko
0.0.1 snapping turtles
0.0.1 3 lined mud turtle

When you say handful, do you mean an adult male hand full of vermiculite? Not like a small 1 inch ball or something?

it does not matter how much you grasp as long as it only drips a couple drops when squeezed
adam
-----
hybrid breeders association
0.1. normal corn het hypo,anery
1.0. snow corn het hypo,anery,amel
1.0. amel corn unknown hets(4ft 8inch long)
1.0 sinacorn
1.1 kenyan sand boas
0.1 mbk
0.1 albino nelsons
0.2 normal leo geckos
1.0 blizzard leo gecko
0.0.1 snapping turtles
0.0.1 3 lined mud turtle

If you think its too wet and the eggs are growing mold you need to remove the eggs from the vermiculite. Then add some dry vermiculite until the the new mixture is damp but not wet.. When you grab a handfull of vermiculite and squeeze it the mixture should stick together but not drip any water.

You should have a 2 to 3 inch layer of vermiculite when your finished..

Then get rid of that top with the holes in it and replace it with cling wrap (that stuff in the kitchen drawer) - make sure it is tightly covering the top of the box that the eggs are in. then pop 1 or 2 VERY SMALL holes in the cling wrap.

Also, stop spraying the eggs!!! If your eggs start to dimple in they are too dry.. Then you can add some water. do this by pouring a small amount of water into the corner of the egg box.. away from the eggs..

good luck ~ Mike Russo

Thanks, I will try some of that stuff. I was spraying the inside of the lid though, not the eggs directly. Someone had said that I should mist the top of the lid and remist when it got dry.