Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My female crested gecko laid her first eggs the last day of May. I got everything set up in my incubator but this is a first time for me. At first the eggs seemed soft then got hard, but now are a little soft again. The temperature seems fine and the moisture seems decent but can anyone shoot me an idea of how wet the vermiculite should be. And is it most likely that her first eggs wont be good anyway. Thanks everyone for your help!!

i use perlite in a 1:1 water to perlite ratio by WEIGHT. not displacement. and easy way to do this is to zero a gram scale with the container on it, then add the desired volume of perlite, make a note of the weight of the perlite. then add water slowly until the weight on the scale is double the weight it was when just the perlite was being weighed. im sure there are other ratios. good luck with the eggs.

Andrew Ellis

i use the same ratio only vermiculite.
it should feel damp to the touch ( like a rung out sponge) but there should be no standing water. be sure to never spray the eggs directly ( this may drowned them). after the first couple of weeks you should be able to hold the eggs up to a small light or a light with a hole in the side in a dark room and " candle" them... you should atleast be able to see a red blood vessel running along the side of the egg if they're fertile.

I use a 2:1 ratio by weight (I put 50 grams of dry vermiculite with 25 grams of water in an 18 gram gladware container) this has worked for me.

I would keep incubating them until they collapse or mold.
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Derek Dunlop
DDReptiles
http://www.freewebs.com/ddreptiles/index.htm