Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well out of both Desert Ig clutches that Tuffilina layed on 3/3/03 and 4/5/03
none have made it to hatching. Sorry Dave. Today the last surviving egg was very moldy. I dissected it and found a fully developed dead baby with what looked like a lot of yolk around it. Does anyone know what caused all of this extra yolk? Could it be incubation temps too low: 84-86 F. Last years hatchlings had yolk sacks or couldnt get out of the egg cause it was stuck on yolk. in the egg
Oh well i'll try again next year .
Last years only hatchling has been brumating with her parentss for a month now in the fridge at 68F and for the first time I put my Aquaflame colony of Collareds in the DIs big viv. since it was unoccupied
It payed off as I have got my first fertile batch of Collared eggs in years 3 weeks ago and all 8 are still good.
Excuse the mistakes as Kingsnake does weird thinks with the letters latley and I don't know why.. Its hard to correct my errors in typing

On another note Eve I heard you live near my neck of the woods I live in Levittown PA.

regards'
John Styner

Sounds like they are not using it all up. I would get the incubation temps up to 90. I do the chucks 90 to 91 degrees.

Yeah I thought my tempos were on the low side .. my thoughts were that maybe lower temps would produce mnore females which is what i want.
Tom or anyone: what proportions of gender do you get at the higher temps (hi 80s-low 90s) ?
John Styner

Thats always a shame to hear. But it is cool that you got some aquaflame eggs, So did I my female also laid 3 weeks ago and I have 7 good so far. I'm waiting for my female C. Vestiguim I can't understand whats going on with er she has been gravid for awhile , but has not layed any eggs, I do not know if she is reabsorbing them or what , guess I just have to be patient and wait !
I bet is was Mr. Eddington who said I lived near you, Acually I did live in Pa but have been over the bridge from you in South Jersy for 10 years now Cherry Hill area ! I had been saying to John that I asked my Husband to take me to the Pine Barrens as a fun thing for me anyway, and John E. said you go sometimes, and live somewhat near me !!!
Good luck with you collared eggs John, I watch mine like a mother hen, maybe that will help LOL Eve

Yeah the S. Jersey barrens are my favorite place..

i have the same problem About the reabsorbing: 2 of my 3 female aquaflames rebsorb 3 or 4 times every summer

act in the same way I described my Vestiguim, they just stay very gravid looking but nothing happens? If so how long do they appear gravid, before they start to look Not gravid? Thanks this whole thing with her is bugging me, not knowing ! Id sure rather have her reabsorb than be eggbound :0) Oh and yeah I cant wait to go to the barrens,lived here all this time, love reptiles and NEVER been there. Duh ! I had read a good article aboutthen in Reptile magizine, which made me think about going, so I want to go real soon ! Let ya know my sightings or findings Thanks John, Eve

other than Pine swift lizards sometimes it takes a lot of time to find anything there. But when you do find something its worth it.
I have been going there since the mid seventies and have seen about a dozen each of pine snakes , eastern chain kingsnakes,, black ratsnakes and redbellied snakes. A couple dozen black racers, one coastal plains milksnake, several eastern worm snakes and southern ringneck snakes, one hognose snake, several northern watersnakes (they are real nice there mimicking the red cedar water) I have Never seen a cornsnake, timber rattler or scarlet snake. I have seen about a hundred pine swifts but only about 3 ground skinks and a dozen or so
northern 5 line skinks.

About the reabsorbing my female collareds get eggs and reabsorb about 3 times a season never getting eggbound
.

John Styner

Sounds like it will be a blast, I can't wait, may go next week sometime, which ever day Hubby says Okay ! LOL Anyway I like those little pine swifts they are very cute, I have a male emerald swift, his mate died, but I like watching the little lizards sometimes. In a more woodsy setting !
I also will love seeing some snakes, I'm sure I will get yelled at, DON'T JUST PICK THAT THING UP, :0) He likes my lizards but does not hold them, My natural instinct is to pick ALL things up, But I'm careful too !
I will feel like I'm on an adventure, LOL FUN ! Okay John thanks for the list of GOODIES , I will let ya know when I come back, how it went ! Eve

on rt 206 at the town of Atsion. . Stop at the ranger station there for details. You can get in trouble for taking any animal or
plant out.

I usually go in on the sand roads and just plan on getting lost for several hours but eventually you will pop out somewhwere on a paved road and figure out where your at..
John Styner

does anybody know about this checking a clutch of d.i. eggs opened the lid and all 4 eggs one after the other split open to reveal small live embryos as you can imaging I was sick ,but still have a couple of clutches to go yet.

because of too wet a medium. Also may have something to do with poorly calcified eggs due to low calcium levels in female. Just some thoughts but noe positive.

same here thought it could be that but all my di eggs seem thin shelled I have brocken a few whilst digging them out in the past, but the ones left have hatched out perfectly , do you find they have thin shells.

her laying eggs except her last clutch (she layed about 4-5 times )
and all of her eggs seemed very white to me but they do look very fragile and thin-skinned and I did break some eggs finding them. They dont look as tough as other reptile eggs that I have had in the past (collared, carolina anole, eastern fence swift, black Racer, and milk snake). I also keep all of my lizards well supplemented with calcium i in the food.

like mine? I am thinking that low temps and too much humidity, one or the other or both may contribute to this unabsorbed yolk. i have found that the dryer i incubate the better success i have at hatching out here in the humid east anyway. and not that i have had i lot of success anyway

They were very early stages of development, but I have had them in the past with there complete head out of the shell for a day or so then die, when I have cut the dead baby out there was a supprisingly big amount of egg-sack still attached.

Sure hate to hear about the bad luck John!! I wish I could give you some asdvice but I know nothing about that end of the deal. I think my female DI is about ready to lay eggs ( I know my male sure is not ready yet).

Later

David