Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay, I've been giving a crack at breeding for about a month now. Over that time, I've gotten a total of 8 eggs. My setup right now for incubation is a cooler half filled with water, using an aquarium heater for heat and humidity. halfway up is a well ventelated pan with my plastic bin of vermiculite and my eggs. The eggs are protected from direct dripping. It has been maintaining a steady 86 degrees and humidity has been in the high 80's. My first two eggs eventually dented and grew fur. now my second clutch is beginning to wrinkle, one has already dented and grown mold. The other has two small dents, but the shell looks a little bit wrinkled. I just added in four more eggs. When I candle them, I am seeing a little red dot on the top of the egg, on the inside, what looks to be inside a bubble. Now, am I doing something wrong? Or am I just having bad luck and not getting fertile eggs? I am eventually going to invest in a real incubator, but for the time being, I don't want to lose my eggs if they are indeed fertile and I am doing something wrong. Please, I know i've been posting frequently about this, but I really need some expert detail and advise about candling and successful incubation. I want to know if what I am seeing is indeed a fertile egg, or what the case is. Please let me know, thanks.
By the way, I got an awesome deal on a 2 foot long Male Red Tailed Boa today, it is a gorgeous little boy. Welcome to the family.
-----
Ten million dollars on a losing campaign, Twenty million starving and writhing in pain, Big strong people unwilling to give, strong in vision and perspective, One in five kids below the poverty line, One population running out of time...

1.1.0 Ball Pythons
0.0.1 Rough Green Snake
1.5.0 Leopard Geckos
1.0.0 Veiled Chameleon
1.0.0 Viper Gecko
1.1.0 Pictus Geckos
0.0.1 Colombian Tegu
1.1.0 Collared Lizards
1.1.0 Blue Tongued Skink
1.0.0 Tokay Gecko
1.1.0 Crested Gecko

Usually when you observe that red spot in them the eggs are fertile... I lost half of my eggs this year to temp fluxuations...and bad medium. Now, for the temps.. are those ambient air temps or actually laying medium temps. Thats what my problem was... I was taking air temp and not medium temp so the eggs were actually colder than they should have been.
-----
Lucien

1.0 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)
3.1 Leopard geckos (2 Blizzard and 2 het Blizzard)
0.1 Savannah Monitor
13 rats
12 Gerbils
2 Dogs
3 cats
1 Albino Corey (fish)

I am judging temp by the air temperature. Could that be the issue? I don't think there is a question of enough humidity, there is constantly water droplets on top and on the sides of the cooler. I'll admit that I did open and check on the eggs daily, which could have varied the temperature greatly, but I get excited and pretty eager to see the progress of them. I am trying to only check on them twice a week now and let them sit. I really want these to hatch, the older one that is left is from my beautiful little yellow and white albino girl, she is my favorite. Where can I purchase perilite? I've been using only vermiculite for incubation. Thanks
-----
Ten million dollars on a losing campaign, Twenty million starving and writhing in pain, Big strong people unwilling to give, strong in vision and perspective, One in five kids below the poverty line, One population running out of time...

1.1.0 Ball Pythons
0.0.1 Rough Green Snake
1.5.0 Leopard Geckos
1.0.0 Veiled Chameleon
1.0.0 Viper Gecko
1.1.0 Pictus Geckos
0.0.1 Colombian Tegu
1.1.0 Collared Lizards
1.1.0 Blue Tongued Skink
1.0.0 Tokay Gecko
1.1.0 Crested Gecko
1.0.0 Red Tailed Boa

I don't think it would be a question of temperature. My room stays at a constant 82 degrees, but there have been a couple of nights where it dropped down to 75 degrees because it's getting to that time of year when it's not sure whether we should use the AC or the heater.

Some people mix perlite and vermiculite together, but I just use the perlite straight. You can buy a huge bag of it for $3.00 at Home Depot or any garden center.
-----
chickabowwow

3.2 leopard geckos (Rosie, Locke, Lisa, Caesar, Tommy)
and 3 eggs a' cookin'

Not sure what caused all my eggs to go bad then if it wasn't the temps....The last set had a 3/4 term hatchling in it when it died...I ended up cutting it open... and found a little tiny blizzard leo... All I could think of is that the laying medium wasn't holding the same temp as the air...but then I did hatch 4 out of eggs with nothing changing for the next ones save a slight dip in temp to try and get females.. So I'm stumped.
-----
Lucien

1.0 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)
3.1 Leopard geckos (2 Blizzard and 2 het Blizzard)
0.1 Savannah Monitor
13 rats
12 Gerbils
2 Dogs
3 cats
1 Albino Corey (fish)

Well, I could also be opening my mouth too soon. None of my eggs have hatched yet. They're on their 6th and 4th weeks.
-----
chickabowwow

3.2 leopard geckos (Rosie, Locke, Lisa, Caesar, Tommy)
and 3 eggs a' cookin'

They're fertile. Denting happens when there isn't enough moisture, but eggs that are dying collapse too. (That's how you know they're dead.)

It sounds like you're being really careful with the preparations, so it's a real shame that you're losing your eggs. I'm using Albey's method right now, and my eggs are still going strong. One of them was denting just a little bit, but it corrected itself after only a few hours in Albey's set-up. I'm not even using an incubator although I have one. The eggs are just sitting there on my bookshelf.
link to albey's method in case you haven't heard of it

-----
chickabowwow

3.2 leopard geckos (Rosie, Locke, Lisa, Caesar, Tommy)
and 3 eggs a' cookin'