Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I went to check the eggs, and I was going to candle them
and the container smelled BAD
Sour
So I rinsed off each egg, tried to rub off any residual stain
and candled them each
2 are actually dark orange, but they are not big, and one of them has a hard thing inside
a few of them had loose skin/shell, and some of these had that hard thing in them
the BIGone was yellow but looked a bit orange if I turned it one way or the other, and 2 others a a bit larger than the others as well, but the one Large one (the one that was larges when i found it) is Quite a bit larger than all of them

I put them in clean Vermiculite, and a larger container, and not covered all the way.
but the eggs themselves smell bad

cannot get my Camera to take a Pic smaller than a MB so I cannot post pics
I will make this work, someday
Worry worry

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Elizabeth (ecb)

Make this world a better and more beautiful place that You have been in it
*Edward W Bok*

Sorry to hear about that Elizabeth. It's a heck of a learning curve. Although it's disappointing to lose a clutch, I try to evaluate what notto do next time. Personally, I feel it is equally important to share what doesn't go right, along with what does go right.

Last time around for me, the eggs were questionable from the get-go, due to having been in coconut-fiber, bog water for several hours before I removed them. Daisy laid while I was at work. I am using vermiculite. With the first clutch, I added too much water to the medium.

Using Marcia's success guideline of an ambient 50% humidity in the egg container, I used very little water this time around. Also, cynic that I am, I boiled the water before adding it to the vermiculite. Pure paranoia on my part, but my reasoning was to eliminate the possibility of mold spores in the vermiculite itself. The best way I could currently describe the consistency of the medium is that it is moist enough to stick to your fingers, but it does not look, or feel, wet.

Whereas I had large droplets of moisture gathering on the sides and top of the egg container previously, now there is a fine, light haze - no large drops.

Obviously, I still don't know if this is going to work out. I keep making the comparison in my mind that the incubation time for these neat little dragons is the same for many varanids - another neat dragon that I am fond of.

Hopefully I will have an "Oh Boy!" post sometime in June, but it is just as likely that I may have another "Oh No" post in about 5 weeks. Regardless, I will keep everyone posted.

As for pics, I posted a thread about the steps a week or so ago. Look online for a freeware image editing tool called Irfanview. It will allow you to resize your digital pics while maintaining decent resolution. Also, if you upload to pethobbyist, they compress your files even further.

Hope Erowen is on the mend.

Don M.

Moldy Dented in eggs
next time I M gonna leave them in the substrate
they looked good when I FOUND them
ARGH
I M so frustrated
maybe I should Mail Erowen to Froggie B when she stopps eating, and she can mail her back after she dropps eggs

*Yes* I M just Joking
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Elizabeth (ecb)

Make this world a better and more beautiful place that You have been in it
*Edward W Bok*