Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all,

FINALLY! I have my first clutch of eggs, 9 perfect white eggs, yes! I removed them, placed them over paper towels in the hovebator incubator, misted the eggs, covered them with a wet paper towel, placed a temp. gauge and humidity meter in the incubator and set temps for 88 degrees. My question is now, what next? What more can I do? Am I doing anything wrong? Let me know all, this is so darn exciting!

May God bless,

Steve Harrison

You might use a small flashlight in the dark to candle them (look for veins). That way if some are infertile you know not to go to extraordinary lengths to try and save it. If a fertile one starts getting a little moldy you might try to gently separate it and treat it in another container.

They need high humidity but not really wet. As long as fertile ones aren't collapsing early (late collapsing is normal) they probably don't need the wet towel treatment. Early last season I had a pan of water in my incubator and the eggs seemed to be swelling too much so I pulled it out and found that the vermiculate was more than moist enough to meet their humidity needs. Basically it's easy to over water and you want a little collapsing along the way.

visit someone with egg experience and see how to actually take care of them.......

this forum and books didn't help enough.....

really.......

........

............think not?.....

read what you both said..............

I am harsh?...yep......eggs die due to people.....

(do not candle....they are ok till they die.......)
(do not mist them)
(paper towel for substrate)
(bowl made it too wet?)(not in mine)......
anyways...it goes on probably.......

temps? 89........

.......good luck.........
-----
"people suck......snakes are a pain???).......better?......
...........................LEARN!!!...KNOW!!!.......

Hey,

Thanks for the replies, wish I could go see someone's setup but I don't have that luxury. I'll have to do the best I can. Should I put a small water bowl in the container?

Thanks,

Stevo

Yes, if they are denting much this early you could put the water pan in as they are apparently dehydrating. Of course, if they are infertile the water pan will not help.

Maybe my vermiculite was too wet last year when mine where swelling too big before I pulled the pan out of my incubator. I read about an egg (another species) actually splitting and I don't think a high-pressure environment is good for them but I really don't know for sure. VPI recommends that they be a little collapsed by hatching time for fear of them drowning. I know I've seen corn eggs so full they squirt when piped hatch fine but my preference is to let them dent a little slowly along the way, mostly near the end.

JY,

What is your thinking on not candling? Do you feel that it is a risk to the eggs? I guess I could see any movement as a risk and possible temp changes. I had some good-looking eggs (i.e. not slugs) last year that I believe where infertile (I opened one that didn’t start looking bad until halfway through incubation and found no embryo in it). If I had figured this out right at the start I would have saved a lot of time and headache trying to save the unsaveable.

I also don't recommend misting them or towels over the egg.

Perhaps your papertowel substrate doesn't hold enough moisture and hence the need for a water pan. With my damp vermiculite and fairly tight incubator I don't need the water pan. Then there is the no-substrate 100% humidity method so obviously there are many ways that work.

first...I didn't see it was you RR.......when I read the post......maybe post was written wrong?...read wrongly?.....whatever.....

anyways.....

I use vermic and a Hovabator......89...no candle.....no throwing out till they rot......

I have dumped water all over eggs.....,,,do not try this at home people.....

as for why not candle....because the less these new people handle the egg the better.......

I just have more incubators.......

usually they don't go bad if they look good to start with...they do at times...not alot though.......

anyways.......

.............
-----
"people suck......snakes are a pain???).......better?......
...........................LEARN!!!...KNOW!!!.......

Until last year I was under the impression that all infertile eggs where duds and all good looking eggs where fertile.

However, I think it was the guy from Markus Jayne that clued me into the idea that good looking eggs could be infertile. Then I decided to cut one open that went half way through incubation before going bad and didn't see any sign of an embryo.

Why some infertile eggs should be good looking while others are slugs I would really like to know.

Woah, good thread! I really would like to know how to keep the humidity levels up. I now have the eggs in vermiculite in a small rubbermaid cut down to accomidate the size of the hovabator. Temps are 89 and the eggs are denting in, what can I do?

Thanks and God bless,

Steve

Does the cut down rubbermaid still seal? Sometimes people put the hovabator lid on top of one of the old square fish shipping boxes (check with a pet store that sells fish) and this allows enough room for a good egg box. You can then use a sealed plastic egg box with a minimum of air holes to keep humidity near 100% around the eggs. The damp vermiculite should allow fertile eggs to rehydrate with high air humidity.

Steve,

Sorry, I didn't read your original post close enough and didn't realize you where using paper towel as the substrate. I got hung up on the paper towel over the eggs and was worried that it might adhere to the eggs and cause problems (can the eggs expand and breath?, will the paper towel mold or does it contain harmful chemicals, etc.).

I've never tried paper towel as a substrate. I would worry that it would tend to either dry out too much or be too wet and drown the eggs. Basically I'm not sure it has enough water buffer capacity to maintain the right humidity. I don't know if JY is saying he uses paper towel or not to use it. I suppose with a water bowl it might work ok but I prefer the damp vermiculite, as it seems to be able to release water slowly to the eggs.

There are those who swear by a no substrate method. I think it basically involves sitting the eggs on some kind of grill with water underneath them. It's important that the water not touch the eggs and I suppose that the grill not wick the water up to them (i.e. a plastic grill might be better than something porous). It sounds like the idea is that the environment is 100% humidity and the eggs don't loose any moisture and perhaps suck any they need out of the air.