Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a bearded dragon female that had laid a few clutches in the past w/o any success hatches. They first clutch eventually died for some unknown reason. The second clutch was buried in sand for probably a few days until found. 1 eggs had a late stage death, cause i cut it open after 90 days, which it delfated, and there was a fully developed lizard. The 3rd clutch were all duds cuz they spelt and were yellowish.
And now, she laid 23 small eggs, but there white, don't smell were soft & deflated when i got them out of the dry/moist substrate. Well there have reflated back to a egg shape. but there still soft. I think maybe the subtrate in the incubator may be too moist.

So....Could a too moist incubating subtrate make an egg soft intead of hard????????

How soft is soft? They should be somewhat soft. Unless they dent, I wouldn't be too concerned about the softness. Your substrate should be moist but not wet.
-----
www.classylizard.com

If the eggs are "soft" as when you pick them up there is no firmness or "hardiness" to them then more then likely they are infertile. If when they were laid right out of the dragon they were "squishy" they are more then likely infertile. Good eggs right out of the dragon will be firm but have a soft feel to them but will not collapse inward when handled gently. The eggs will not be hard like a chicken egg at any point (unless overcooked and dried out a ton).

The incubation medium such as vermiculite should be moist but not damp. When you take a handful and make it into a ball it should just barely stick together. If your media is way to moist it's possible the humidity and water swelled the eggs that were infertile into looking like they were fertile. You can candle them to see for blood vessels and lil veins inside the egg after a few days.

brandon
-----
Dragons by Nature