Reptile & Amphibian Forums

well, one of my wild caughts just laid eggs

this is a problem because i am unprepared for eggs (she is new and must already mated before i got her)

Anyway, from pure dumb luck i checked the cage two days in a row (she keeps spilling her water) and the second day, eggs.

believe it or not we just happend to have a hoverbator, but it gets way too hot...seems to be either high nineties or nothing (if someone can tell me how to adjust the heat, it would be much appreciated. so far im trying to use a dimmer with no real success.

also, the eggs seem to have dimpled from being really round. is this normal? btw humidity is at about 70 percent by using a small dish inside the container

It sounds like the little copper wafer that is in the temperature control may be upside down. Check that it is installed correctly and if not flip it. Hope this helps.
Rick

Also, a dimmer switch will not work. You need a proportional thermostat.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

Like Exotic just said, the wafer is probably upside down (that's what I did). You should hear a little click noise every time the thing turns on or off.

The dimpling is cause it's not humid enough for the eggs. Do what you can to raise humidity without getting the eggs wet, but the sooner you get them in the incubator the easier it'll be to keep the humidity up for them.

Good luck!

~jenny
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1.2.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, Periscope, and dah bebbies)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
0.0.1 Mountain Horned Lizard (Freckles)
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 mice (Cute Girl Mousy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
0.0.1 chupacabra (it ate our chickens)

jenny.thegreenes.org

thx, yea the humidity has been raised

i think the disk is in right it turns on and off if i screw it in opposite directions

How warm is the room it's in? That might affect it. I had to tinker with mine for about three days before I got it to stay at about 88 degrees, give or take a degree. The room it was in was also about 70 degrees most of the time. I had to adjust it for hotter/colder days, so I definately recommend getting the thermostat mentioned above

~jenny
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1.2.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, Periscope, and dah bebbies)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
0.0.1 Mountain Horned Lizard (Freckles)
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 mice (Cute Girl Mousy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
0.0.1 chupacabra (it ate our chickens)

jenny.thegreenes.org

yea i think the damn just had to be on for a few hours before the filaments started heating right...the room it is in never drops below 70, in fact its usually much warmer (stupid second floor apartments stay hot even with the heat off).

with tweaking, the temp seems to have stayed constant at about 88-91 degrees wiht much higher humidity. again we were totally unprepared and are going to get a thermostat tomorrow.

another question: the air temp in the hovabator is 88-90 using the max/min thermometer but when i checked the actual temp of the eggs, they were around 83-86 ish. the air temp has been constant for a LONG time so i dont know why they are cooler? that ok?

thanks again for everyones speedy responses and help.

When I posted my questions about incubating, someone made the very good point that it's not the air that matters quite as much as the vermaculite/incubation medium does. So, I kept my thermometer probes buried in the vermaculite I used to incubate. You'll notice considerably less fluctuation aaaand you'll know what the eggs are actually incubating at. The thermometer that came with the incubator usually read my air temperature at 90 or so but my eggs were a couple degrees cooler.

Just somethin to think about I've only had the one clutch, so anyone with more experience with these things is more than welcome to jump in!

~jenny
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1.2.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, Periscope, and dah bebbies)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
0.0.1 Mountain Horned Lizard (Freckles)
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 mice (Cute Girl Mousy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
0.0.1 chupacabra (it ate our chickens)

jenny.thegreenes.org

is to have an egg container inside of the incubator. This holds temps much better as well has humidity. Put the probe inside the container in the middle of the eggs.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

funny my buddy mentioned the same thing about a smaller container inside to fix humidity.

the humidity is way back up, should the eggs return to looking "full" or stay dimpled?

>>funny my buddy mentioned the same thing about a smaller container inside to fix humidity.
>>
>>the humidity is way back up, should the eggs return to looking "full" or stay dimpled?

They should fill in.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

Jay is a class act. His advice is sound and based on alot of experience. Dont tell him I said so. He might get an Ego!

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Kyle
www.royalvariations.com

"be safe, be happy and dont let anyone make you afraid" David Coverdale

fabulous photos!!!!
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

you make me blush!
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Kyle
www.royalvariations.com

"be safe, be happy and dont let anyone make you afraid" David Coverdale

thanks alot, and btw jay your articles on your site are great

>>thanks alot, and btw jay your articles on your site are great

No problem.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles