Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My second clutch of eggs is at seven and a half weeks. I’m worried about them, but now because of the time. I checked them this evening, and there are black bugs, no bigger than pinpricks climbing on them.

Unfortunately, the stores around here no longer sell vermiculite, only perlite. I would have used this, but the package said it had high concentrations of nitrogen in it, and that didn’t sound good. I resorted to sphagnum moss, which apparently wasn’t a good idea either, because some eggs molded, and now the bugs…

Where can I buy vermiculite, and is the nitrogen standard in perlite, or does it even matter?

This was my incubation set-up.
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I found the cure for hope.
Stephen Diekmann
nehpets1*at*juno.com

1.0 Anerythristic Motley Cornsnake
0.1 Sunglow Motley Cornsnake
1.0 Unknown, probably normal, poss. okeetee, poss. hypo
0.1 Snow Cornsnake
0.1 Snow het Lavender het Opal Cornsnake
1.1 Butter Cornsnake
0.1 Candycane x Amelanistic Cornsnake
1.2 Ghost Coral Cornsnake
1.1 Hypo Bloodred Cornsnake
?.? 1 Hognose, Origin unknown

I bought my vermiculite at Ace Hardware store. Came in a big old bag that is more then I will ever need. I think they use it for hydroponics and potting soil type stuff. I have no clue on your perlite questions.

In spite of the black insects, my second clutch began pipping about an hour ago. Only two eggs of eight so far, but that's better than none.

We'll see how this goes.

-----
I found the cure for hope.
Stephen Diekmann
nehpets1*at*juno.com

1.0 Anerythristic Motley Cornsnake
0.1 Sunglow Motley Cornsnake
1.0 Unknown, probably normal, poss. okeetee, poss. hypo
0.1 Snow Cornsnake
0.1 Snow het Lavender het Opal Cornsnake
1.1 Butter Cornsnake
0.1 Candycane x Amelanistic Cornsnake
1.2 Ghost Coral Cornsnake
1.1 Hypo Bloodred Cornsnake
?.? 1 Hognose, Origin unknown