Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, here goes: I've had my dragons for several years, I'm not a newbie to general care, and I'm a field herpetologist, so not totally clueless, but I am totally new to being a baby beardie mother. I have two adults, a male and female, both rescued, primarily to take them to classrooms when I give presentations on my field research, it's a great way to let kids see calm, gentle reptiles up close.

Anyway, long story short, my female, who is not a spring chicken - I rescued her as an adult from bad owners, and it took a while to bring her back to good health - has laid eggs yesterday for the first time. She's never been gravid before while I've had her.

Anyway, this was an unplanned pregnancy; I'd like to bring the eggs to term and have new babies, but you could say I'm pretty unprepared. I checked out the eggs, they are fertile. I've read everything I can find on breeding, so here are my questions: WHY is a chicken incubator no good, even if you maintain substrate and temps and humidity at what is optimal? I know there must be a good answer for this, but I don't know what it is: Is it the setup of the heating element, the size of the incubator, air circulation, all of the above?? I don't have a hovabator on hand, yet - like I said, eggs just laid yesterday. I do have a chicken incubator, so for lack of anything better til I run out and spend more $ than I want to on something better, I've got them in vermiculite, partly covered, etc. Like I said, I'm on a budget, so I'm not going to build a new addition on the house or pay for a midwife, etc....to bring these eggs to fruition...

I've helped with croc reintroduction program and egg incubating (South America), and I know those eggs are a challenge - but a croc is not a beardie. My other question is, anyone know why leaving them partly uncovered is more successful than completely covered, the way mom lays them? Considering the way they are laid and hatch in the wild, we do things pretty differently, presumably to get maximum success of hatchlings, but..well, leaves me with lots of questions. Obviously nature's way is hard to reproduce when, well, not in the Australian outback but instead in one's living room.

Any advice is welcome, thanks.

I'm sure you are going to get a ton of replies to this one from alot more experienced keepers but from what i have researched beardie eggs are quite easy to incubate. does your incubator have the capability to maintain a constatnt temp? Like 82-84 degF? If so then you should have no problem. Keep the vermiculite moist enough, but not too moist. Enough that you can clump or ball it up in your hand without water dripping out from it.Have you candled them to see if they are fertile? I read a story of a guy who incubated BD eggs at room temp in his college dorm room in a tupperware container and got 10 out of 11 egss to hatch, it did take 5 months but it happened. Sounds like you have experience with alot more difficult species so this should be easy for you. As for keeping them half buried I am not sure, butpersonally I think its to be able to check progress of your eggs (dimpling,collapsing or rotting). If you bury them all the way you couldnt monitor them and adjust accordingly. Thay are obviously covered all the way in the wild to protect from predators. Of course it would work if you covered them entirely too but whats the fun in that. watching the hatching process is the best part!! Hope this helps, Good Luck

Only thing I can see that would be bad in using a chicken/bird incubator is most have auto-egg rotation...rotating reptile eggs will kill them.

If yours doesn't have this or it can be turned off, then I don't see any reason why you can't use a chicken incubator. As long as it holds humidity and temperatures within 80-84F steadily (temps going over 85F can kill the eggs, lower than 80F will increase incubation time..too low (below 70F) and I think the eggs will fail to hatch,) you should have babies in about 58-65 days I believe it is.

As for leaving them partially exposed, I think its more for ease of monitoring of the eggs.

As this wasn't a planned pregnancy...have the male and females been housed together in the last 12 months or so? If not the eggs are most likely infertile. Female bearded dragons will produce infertile eggs whether housed with a male or not.

Another thing, as you are on a tight budget and bearded dragons have multiple clutches per season. (expect more eggs in 2-4 weeks on average) it may be better to freeze the eggs to destroy any embryos and toss them out instead of incubation. Bearded dragons are very proliferate and babies can eat alot of insects...as much as 100 per day. I am not sure how large the clutch is you have, if fertile that means alot of hungry mouths to feed in a couple months, not to mention the setup costs to house them till you find new homes.

Just something to consider... even 20 babies can eat anywhere between 25-100 crickets a day (spread over several meals). Thus 500-2000 crickets a day (3500-14000/wk) can add up.

As you never planned on having eggs etc...this may be a better option for you.
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PHLdyPayne

Thanks.

If successful, I plan on giving the babies to a more invested breeder. I did candle the eggs, an much to my surprise, they are all fertile (except one) - all 28 of them!

I'm going to give the chicken incubator a shot. It does maintain the temp, as long as I double-check it daily as the ambient temps change. Humidity can be maintained, though I have to check that daily, too. My biggest problem is keeping the cat from trying to sit on it when it is cold in the house.

It has no automatic rotator, not that fancy at all.

Guess I'll find out in the next 2 months just how good this incubator is. Meantime, my female is getting plenty of calcium supplements, since based on what I've read (and as you mentioned) there's a good chance there will be more eggs coming soon.

cheers

Redhed

Unless you seperate them you will have more eggs. Due to lack of cage space and underestimating thier fertilty my female just laid her third and biggest clutch since november. Unless your ready for that seperate them now