Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello to all,
I just had a question, rather looking for suggestions about incubation medium. I have heard(probably just overheard) it mentioned that perlite has rendered higher hatching rates among incubated clutches of monitors and tegus than vermiculite. I know that most important is the accurate temperature and proper humidity. I have hatched many eggs on good FL dirt also, but never varanid eggs. Vermiculite has worked well for me with crocodiles, alligators, many species of tortoises, snakes and I found South FL fill dirt to work best for my Rankins eggs. Please let me know your opinions, thanks-Mike

Moisture ratios would be great for perlite. I've never used it but see it in the a lot of successful hatching photos with laceys and others. Any info will be great,thanks again-Mike

I've heard (don't KNOW) that perlite allows more air exchange below the egg due to a bigger grain size vs. vermiculite or dirt. This is the theory from some successful breeders i've heard. Both vermiculite and perlite resist mold/fungus better than dirt/humus type media.

I am so so so jealous. You get to work with Crocs and gators. My favorite of all reptiles. I would kill to be allowed to keep dwarf crocs or dwarf caimens.

Ok, I am over my jealousy. I used vermic for decades and decades with all sorts of reptile eggs(including crocs) Then all of a sudden I soured on it. It became very inconsistant.

Which brings up the important part of my response. It almost does not matter what you use amoung many types of medium, what matters is your understanding of that medium.

I use perlite, and I think it works very well. It does because its very consistant. I understand it and what to expect of it. Consistancy is key.

I have hatched all sorts of eggs including many types of monitors on all sorts of stuff, from paper towels to sand to spahgnum moss. But Perlite is the most dependable.

Please consider I have had varanid eggs incubating every single day, not missing a single day since 1991. So being dependable is very important to me. It does help that larger varanid eggs take 6 months to over a year to incubate. Cheers

Hi,

I have also used vermiculite for many years (but nowhere near as long as Frank), and switched to perlite about 10 years ago. To me perlite is a lot more forgiving than vermiculite. I believe this because with vermic, the media actually absorbs water and exchanges it with the eggs directly. This means that if your mixture is too wet, the vermic will pass all of that excess moisture directly to the eggs. If the mix is too dry, the vermic will suck the moisture out of the eggs. with perlite, the water (with the help of gravity) rests below the eggs and the eggs seem to come in contact with more of the humid air than the actual wetness of the media. If the mix is too dry, the eggs will lose moisture at a slower rate, because the perlite does not seem to suck the moisture out of the eggs like fry vermic does. The eggs just seem to be in a more stable environment with perlite, in my experience anyway.

This is not to say that vermiculite can't work as well as perlite, as I'm sure you know, it has been used for decades with great success. You just have to be more aware of the moisture content of the mix during the mixing stage and during incubation. Being a bit lazy and often having many clutches of king, python and turtle eggs cooking at once, I opt for the most keeper forgiving incubation media I can find.

Will

Hi Will, are my Kimberlys coming along well?????j/k sort of.

Anyway check this out, Of course I hatched it, no, it hatched itself in dirt, good old monitor nesting dirt, indoors. Its a golden greek.

There is a funny story behind it. This baby hatched out in a monitor cage, with monitors in it. I had used that cage to hold the adult torts for a few days, until their larger cage was ready and did not know one had laid. hahahahahahahaha I could not believe my eyes when I saw this little abino looking tort walking in the cage, my brain went silly. You know, like I was looking in the wrong cage. Its doing very well and growing like a weed, torts do that too. Cheers

Hey Frank,

Your kims are cooking nicely. I have a small clutch that just hit 90 days, so hopefully I will see some life soon. I also have the clutch of 12 that will hopefully pip in late April. I hope to deliver to you some babies in May. Take care my friend.

Will

PS - I was shocked by that pic and story on Varanus. that is awesome. My spottys are my favorites of all my herps, but I have been planning to get some actual torts soon. I have been leaning toward Burmese stars or radiateds.

I also got eggs(first for me) from a pair of Western pond turtles. I got them from george in fla. as babies. They were a kick to raise. Both appeared female until they were full grown, then in one day, the male was male. I had spotteds do that as well.

I also have spotteds. And yes, they are a kick in the rear end. I love it when the males smack the females in the head and spin them. Then jump on. What a bunch of randy things they are. hahahahahahahahaha Cheers

great looking Greek! How old are your breeders? I remember we talked about this before.

I think it's funny how defensive of their husbandry people get when I tell them how quickly my russian torts grow. I get that from a lot of forums I visit. People would rather read care sheets than reptiles.

I owe a whole lot to this forum, and I have yet to dive into monitors. Good reptile care is good reptile care.

Great looking tort again, and awesome story. Good thing the monitors didn't get the little fella. Do you think he had clutch mates?

Hi Ryan, I dug the cage up and there was a clutch of four. One hatched, one died full term, as all that was in the broken egg was bones and shell piecies, and another egg that was mostly decomposed, and a whole egg, thats still intact, but I candled it and its empty(infertile)

The little guy is a bull and is growing very quickly.

The adults are also growing very very fast, still.

I will post some pics of the adult female and male and baby, soon.

What I learned is, baby torts know and understand what leaf litter is, and how to use it. The monitor cage had a few inches of leaflitter, and I had disturbed it just before finding the baby. Also, it had been hatched a while as its belly was flat and hard. It also had small growth rings already. It much have been feeding on leaf litter. That or fuzzies, hahahahahahaha.

In his new cage, I set it up like the cage it was in, including leaflitter and it makes burrows under the leaflitter but not in the soil(monitor dirt)

Later, Cheers

Can't wait to see more pics! I'll have to post some of my russians when you toss your pics up.

Thanks