Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Did you ever make your decision on your little guy?

Just curious,
sdaly
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"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today."

Did you get the email that I responded to. and for now I am giving it a few days to see how it is doing, and there are 2 babies with the same pboblem. thanks.

JIM

That's good that you are going to give them a chance.

BTW, no I did not get your e-mail for some reason.

Thanks for keeping us informed,
sdaly
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"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today."

What do you think is the cause. If I had 2 deformities in 1 clutch, I would look for a cause. Has this pair bred before and if so, were the babies all normal? Was the incubator setup and ready before the eggs or were you caught by surprise and the eggs went in before the incubator was stable?
These type of deformities can be genetic but can also be caused during incubation. I've even experienced major loss of eggs due to the vermiculite. One year I had 3 clutches in the incubator, more coming. At about 42 days, a week before they were due, the eggs would die. They would suddently get this reddish color, mold, and die. I emailed a breeder that had written an article on incubation in Reptiles magazine. He suggested I change the vermiculite. It saved my season.

Did you just change from vermiculite to vermiculite? What was wrong with the vermiculite you currently had in there?

Thanks
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Louie

I just switched to a fresh batch of vermiculite. Then I tossed out the stuff I started with and the rest of the bag. I suspect that it was contaminated with a fungus. It was dry when I purchased it and the odor was normal. Please don't go sniffing your vermiculite. Not a healthy thing to do.

Last year when I went to Lowes to purchase a couple of bags I found some bags that were completely soaked. I promptly put those aside and picked up a couple of the light dry ones.

Not sure what would cause this. This was the first time these two snakes were breed together. And the incubator was all set long before the eggs were laid. These were the last two eggs to hatch out of a clutch of ten eggs and all the others are fine. I had a few more clutches of western hognose set up the same way with the same mixture of vermiculite and purlite and all the other clutches have hatched out in great shape. Thanks.

JIM