Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My crested gecko egg keep molding just as they're ready to hatch. They're incubated at around 77 degrees in coconut fiber. I thought maybe the substrate had something to do with it. I couldn't find any vermiculite, but I was wondering if I could incubate in perilite? Does anybody know? Mom is fed on CGD and crickets with a little extra liquid calcium. Is there something else that could be going on?

x-posted to crested gecko forum
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Corn Snakes: Eden, Mars, Sierra, Lavendar, The Tweedle Twins
Crested Geckos: Parker, Emily Dickinson, Bonnie, Benz, Jude, Cali
Leopard Geckos: Paris, Helen, Annabelle, Artemis, Vesta
Jambea Dwarf Retic: Montague

All my eggs are incubated in perlite. Mold is usually an indication of to little air circulation and conditions that are too moist. Also infertile eggs will mold fairly regularly no matter what you do. Are you sure that the eggs are fertile? Do they still hatch? If they don't hatch you can open them up and make sure they were viable.

No, they're fertile. They're usually almost fully formed babies. They look almost ready to hatch. And they don't go moldy until that point.
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Corn Snakes: Eden, Mars, Sierra, Lavendar, The Tweedle Twins
Crested Geckos: Parker, Emily Dickinson, Bonnie, Benz, Jude, Cali
Leopard Geckos: Paris, Helen, Annabelle, Artemis, Vesta
Jambea Dwarf Retic: Montague

I had the identical problem with my crested when I was using vericulite and a Hovabator. I replaced my piece of crap Hovabator with a nice incubator with a helix control and have had 100% success since. When using the hovabator I had about a 20% hatch rate even though when I cut the bad eggs open the babies would be fully formed (just as you are describing). I think it has something to do with maintaning a steady, even temp. The hovabators with the waffle thermostats fluctuate too much. That's my thoery