Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi wondering if anyone could help me out with this......? I have begun breeding my leos, and they have provided me with numerous eggs. Some i've missed and they've perished in the naturium set up I keep them. But I'e been lucky enough to be there at the time for most. This is my method/equipment......

Incubator........(german made) Digital display and thermostatic control. Thermofan to cool and heat up quickly (automatic). It is almost identicle to the mini fridges you can buy.

Medium...........Pearlite. Moistened as per instructions in Tremper's book as in you can form a 'snowball' with it that holds itself intact. In incubator tubs that came with the 'bator.

Temperature......Av temp 26 degrees. Variation between 25-27 MAX.

Ok, my problems have been......split casings/leakage, a grey mould covering the egg and surrounding medium, eggs simply collapse and whither, and presently, at 70 days my oldest ones have begun to sink inwards as if medium is to dry..but its fine. I'm becomming really dispondent now and beginning to wonder whether its been worth the expense and hassle.Please if you can help, post your reply as i'm desperate now!

Please hang in there. There is nothing like setting these animals up, seeing eggs, incubating the eggs and seeing that little baby in the container!

For temperatures, low 80 degrees (28-29 celsius) for females, mid 80s for a mix (30 celsius), and higher 80s for males (31 celsius).

For medium- perlite or vermiculite should work fine. Moist but not damp. I like to err on the dryer side. Experiment with a batch of medium. If you can squeeze out water, it's too moist. This may be your problem. Make sure the eggs absolutely are not buried in the medium that is too moist! Make sure you prepare everything in a warmer environment. One mistake I made earlier on was to prepare the medium in another room outside the lizard room (84 degrees- @30 celsius). Once the containers were placed in the incubator, condensation would start forming.

Make sure you are using a good amount of medium in the hatching cup. The more you use, the less variation during the hatching period.

I hatch using containers without holes. About 6 weeks into the incubation period, I check the containers for moisture content. By now I can do this by feel. I add just a small amount of water back into the mix (a table spoon or two at the most) away from the eggs.

I incubate in a home made hatcher created from a small fridge. A shoebox container goes in the bottom filled with water. As I mentioned earlier, the medium is kept a bit on the dry side but the incubator is high in humidity.

Never move the eggs!!! This is extremely important. Take the eggs directly from the lay box and in the same position, place them in the hatching cup. I never do this until I am absolutely ready for them.
Many breeders mark the eggs so they always know what position the eggs were initially layed in.

Finally, it is best to take the eggs as soon as you can from the females to avoid her from moving them around in the lay box. Record when the initial eggs are layed and start searching again 2 weeks from that date.

Please let us know if this helps or if you have additional questions.
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http://wkern.msspro.com/supremegecko.html

I want to see a picture of your tank!

Andrew,
You mentioned you would like to see pictures of the setup. Do you mean the adult leopard enclosure, the hatching deli cup containers, or the incubator I made?
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http://wkern.msspro.com/supremegecko.html

The leopard enclosure. Sorry for the miscommunication.