Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Can any one help me please!

I am on my second lot of eggs which i am trying to incubate. I have a lovely trio my male is 3yrs, one female is 2 and another is 3 all are proven breeders so the eggs are valid but i am finding within a few days they are deflating and becoming moldy. I am incubating at 83f, all eggs are approx one third covered in vermic, the vermic was mixed with 1 part water per 1 part vermic and i have a humidity of 80%. Is any of this wrong.

My incubator is made of a poly box, heat mat is on a stat, i have two temp probes, humidity gauge, eggs are spread in cricket boxes that are raised from the mat.

I am thinking of removing the lids from the boxes and placing large bowls of water, i am wondering if the extra air flow may help the eggs?

Sorry to go on but this is doing my head in! Any advice would be brilliant, cheers
Mark

Mark,

Way too much humidity..it should be 35%..the vermiculite should be barely moist..barely. The eggs should be checked every 48 hours and if you see signs of deflation you take an eyedropper and drop water around the perimiter of the eggs...the eggs should maintain a rubbery shell..if it starts to feel like plastic (dry) another indication to add water. Hope this helps!

Tammy
Link

yes now it is very important to have airflow over the eggs, and the vermiclite damp but not wet. The humidity is ok at 80. You can achieve this with a container of water.

The best result that i heb is with a glas incubator. Half full with water with a tropical aquarium heater. Then half an inch above the water i place mij open egg containers, to stop the dragons escaping when they hatch i later place over ther container a net curtain.

which does not stop the airflow. Again the lid is a glas sloping lid with a half inch gap at the front which is the lowest end of the slope.

It is old fashioned but works very wel.

I also find that if you make the eggs too wet in the vermiculite the texture of the shells change and the baby dragon can have difficulties in climbing out.

i hope this helps