Reptile & Amphibian Forums

THIS MAY SEEM LIKE A FUNNY QUESTION TO ASK, BUT I BUILT MY OWN INCUBATOR AND IT SEEMS TO BE WORKING FINE AND I HAVE FULL CONFIDENCE THAT IT WILL DO THE JOB AS IT HOLDS TEMP AND HUM. PERFECT, AND HAS GREAT CIRCULATION. HOWEVER MY QUESTION IS ADRESSED TOWARDS MOLD. I READ SOMEWHERE THAT SOMEBODY LOST A CLUTCH OF EGGS DUE TO MOLD, I REALIZE THAT THIS IS A PERFECT HABITAT FOR IT TO EXIST HOWEVER HOW DO U PREVENT THIS, AND IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE THAT ANYONE CAN SHARE WITH ME AS FAR AS HEADSUPS ON OTHER THINGS THAT ARE SOMEWHAT RARE TO LOOK OUT FOR.

THIS WILL BE MY FIRST YR. BREEDING SO I DONT WANT TO HAVE ANY TROUBLE THATS UNEEDED. THANK YOU FOR YOUR RESPONSE AND HELP . ALSO IS THERE ANY SPECIFIC CONTAINER THAT WORKS GREAT FOR INCUBATING . IM CURRENTLY USING SHALLOW TUPERWARE CONT, BUT WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A LIL SOMETHIN MORE PROFICIENT.

THANK YOU,
DARREN KENNEDY
DRAGON'S BOWL

http://dragonsbowl.weebly.com/

I use plastic shoe boxes with holes in the lid.

Use Vermiculite or Perilite as your medium in the incubation bins. Humidity around 50%-60% (even 70% if you can achieve that)...

Mold is a fungii that breeds and multiplies in warm, moist area. Ive avoided it by putting eggs in tupperware containers and pking 1 HOLE in the container to contain high humidity within the eggs, and not enough air/light for the conditions for mold to breed. I successfully have 95%-100% hatch rates too.
www.AtlantaBeardedDragons.com

Are you measuring the humidity inside your containers? 50-60% seems very low. Mine hold pretty close to 99%.

On another note. I mix the substrate to the right moisture content, after putting in the eggs I weigh the entire container and write the weight on the lid. Then every 2-3 weeks I reweight the containers and add the missing water back into the substrate with an eyedropper.

THANKS, GREAT ADVICE, HUMIDITY IN THE ACTUAL EGG CONTINER IS CLOSE TO 90% AND I USED A THUMB TAC TO PU A SMALL AIR HOLE ON EACH SIDE OF THE CONTAINER BEFORE PUTTING THE EGGS IN. I USE 100% VERMICULATE AS EGG SUBSTRATE LETTING THE EGG REST ON TOP NO BURRYING IT AND HOLD A TEMP OF 83 TO 84 ON THE EGGS. I AM USING A RANCO THERMOSTA THAT I GOT IN A TRADE .(WAS BRAND NEW IN BOX) AND I HAVE PERIODICALLY CHECKED THE EGGS TWICE A DAY A OPEN THE INCUBATORS DOORS SLIGHTLY FOR ABOUT 30 SEC. TWICE A DAY FOR FRESH AIR, IM SURE IT PROBABLY GETS PLENTY BUT I WANT TO INSURE IT, DO YOU HINK IM CHECKING THE EGGS TOO FREQUENTLY OR IS THIS OKAY. HOW FRAGILE ARE THESE THINGS? I KNOW NOT TO ROTATE OR MOVE DUE TO EMBRYO SET BUT AM I CHECKING TO MUCH, AND COULD I HURT THEM? KIND OF WORKING WITH ALOT OF KNOWLEDGE I HAVE GAINED FOR THIS SO IM REALLY WANTING TO PERFECT IT AND APPRECIATE ALL THE INFO. THANK YOU.

It is considered bad protocol to type everything in caps. It makes it very hard to read your posts and is often viewed as 'yelling' in the net community.
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PHLdyPayne

`-u in the overall incubator and 85%-95% inside the conatiner