Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello folks. Hope everyone and their dragons are doing well.
I have unfortunately lost my second clutch. They were great looking eggs, but my husbandry still leaves something to be desired. I had an egg go moldy, so I removed the cover to the egg container to reduce overall moisture, but left the cover on the sweater box in which the egg container is placed. Whereas the first clutch was lost due to excessive moisture, the second was lost due to innadequate humidity.

Zoe, the older female, also clutched this evening, laying 10 eggs. I don't believe they are fertile, as this is the first clutch since obtaining her last September. However, I am incubating them, and will have to obtain a decent flashlight to attempt candling them.

Daisy appears to be working on clutch number 3. The 3 adults appear to be in good health, and their second round of fecals have come back clean. So, although I am comfortable with caring for the adults, I have a few things to learn in order to successfully reach a hatch. Thankfully, the dragons know what to do, it's just the care-taker that needs to get on the ball.

I don't recall what your group consists of so help me here. Are they all females or do you have a male? If you have a male, how long have you had him?

Now, If an egg molds moisture isn't the only thing that can cause it. It is possible that that egg was bad and even if a clutch is fertile there can still be slugs (infertile eggs) and they will mold. If one egg molds and the rest don't look moldy or discolored, usually orange/pinkish or yellow shell, then you need only to remove the moldy egg and leave the rest. For instance, my Skywalker laid a nice clutch of 16. Ten of them molded and got slimy orange/pink color within the first week. I tossed the 10 and the 6 are still hanging in there. I am still not certain that they are fertile or not but one is getting larger so they may be. They are 1 month old now.

So, you removed the moldy egg and removed the cover and the shoebox cover. I find that if the substrate is too moist lifting the cover of the egg container will allow it to dry adequately without over-drying. If the eggs start to collapse from drying out and you catch it soon enough, within 24 hours, sometimes you can rehydrate them by adding a little moisture to the substrate and re-covering them. This doesn't always work but if the eggs are viable it certainly is worth a try as it sometimes is effective.

I hope this little bit of info will help you with the confidence to be able to succeed in hatching a clutch. Hopefully Daisy will be laying again and you can see a clutch to full term!
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Marcia - FroggieB Dragons
www.froggieb.com/MHDHome.html