Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Why is it that you arent allowed to get water on your eggs?? And if you arent, how do the eggs take in water? I am asking this as i went to look at mine this morning and one of them looked soggy as if there was too much water in the virmiculite or something along those lines. I put more water in as i was told that i had to have condensation on the inside of my container lids. If i dont put this amount in then i can only get a reading of 50 on my humidity thingy. How do i get round this? How can i save my eggs and get a good humidity also?? My eggs are incubating in an old chicken incubator. It is quite big as it holds 50 chicken eggs and it has a water tray in the bottom what i have been filling up. It also runs off a thermostat. mmmmmmmm. i think that covers everything. EXPERT OPINIONS PLEASE. GO!!

Watering the eggs will cause them to drown, the eggs get water through humidy, the eggs themselves are very prorous and if they come in direct contact with water they will absorb the water when to much is absorbed the baby drowns, I have never recorded the humidity in my incubator ( I know someone will say something about that and its probably very ignorant of me, but when I first started I didnt use one and now I am very successful when it comes to geting them to hatch), so I wouldnt know any good humidity levels, what I do is I put the eggs in a 4:1 vermiculite to water ratio, incubate them between at around 85 86 tops , thats it I periodically check on them through the window (I use the hovabator) to make sure all is well.

Daniel Martin
Kryptic Morphs

I actually agree, I don't measure humidity at all. I just watch the eggs, I check every 3 days or so up until about 55 days, then I check once a day. I firmly believe that the things that hurts dragon eggs the most are too much disturbing to check humidity, candle, ect. and having the heat get too high. I get my vermiculite the correct moisture when the eggs are laid and I put a empty repcal jar full of water in the incubator and I don't mess with the humidity again the whole time. Getting water on the eggs will drown them, it actually covers the pores that they need to exchange gases (oxygen) and they suffocate. Getting the vermiculite too wet encourages mold. Just leave them alone. If they start to dent before their time add a little water to the vermiculite and the tray in the bottom.

I do not bother my eggs during thier incubation at all, I have only had to add water a few times over the years. I have only had a few eggs ever not hatch, probably something like 1 out of 100 does not hatch.