Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The clutch of 21 eggs is now on perlite, the temp is @ 82F
However, they were all puckered when I picked them up, and although the humidity is high, I dont see much sign of plumping up yet. They all look good, but when I transferred them to the new container, the shells felt extremely thin. Once again, I dont know wht to expect at all here, so all could be normal.
Thanks for any further input.
-----
...and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."

How long ago were they laid? It takes a few days to a week for the shells to harden up some. Are you sure the female was fertilized and the eggs are fertile? Continue to incubate them until they rot, because you just never know! People have had healthy babies come out of scary looking eggs.

I am not sure how much water exactly to put in perlite as I have never used it! I know with vermiculite you want it moist enough to clump but not so that it drips when squeezed. Hopefully someone else can help you with watering perlite, as it is important to have the moisture level just right to keep the eggs plump and healthy.

Goodluck with your new eggs and keep us posted! LindsayMarie

It sounds like your perlite wasn't moist enough going in. Mix the perlite 1 part water to 10 parts perlite by volume. In other words to 1 cup of water add 10 cups of perlite.

By weight the ratio is 1:1 or 1 ounce/gram/pound/ton of perlite to 1 ounce/gram/pound/ton of water. Get it whatever weight you use of perlite use the same weight of water.

If you didn't do one of these from the start you'll need to mist your egg boxes till the eggs plump up. I think I'm leaning towards Lindsay Marie's thoughts on whether the eggs were fertile to begin with or if you found them when they already had started to dessicate.

Hope this helps.
BigT

I do as lindsay said. Add water till I can clump it but not so much that it drips.
-----
Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com