Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is discouraging. I have had two Henkeli hatch out lately, both of which died immediately. I think I may have allowed the temperature to stay too low. I have been incubating at room temp, and the fuel cost was making me keep the house too cold. what temperatures do you all keep the incubator at during the day and night?
I am refinishing the floor in my livingroom so I had to take down the Fimbriatus and Henkeli tanks. I found 4 more eggs while cleaning out the tanks so I have another chance at it. I don't want to mess it up again.
While the Fimbriatus were checking out their new tank they went down for a drink at the dish, and I got a nice picture of them.

Tanya

it's tough for us to really tell based on the details you gave us. but from what ive experienced, i doubt you could be using too cool of a temperature unless you're really dipping down there. i would ideally keep the eggs in the 65-72 degree F range, although i dont think even keeping it slightly warmer than that would hurt. unless youre dipping into the 50s and lower, you might have a different problem. how are you incubating the eggs, what substrate, how moist, etc. i have had success with all my eggs (henkeli, phantasticus, even r. ciliatus) in the same setup, which is perlite in a medium sized plastic container with some small holes poked in the top. im vigilant about checking multiple times per night for hatchlings until i go to sleep (which is usually somewhere between 12 am and 3 am). leaving hatchlings on substrates such as perlite and vermiculite can lead to the ingesting small particles, which will cause impaction. always do your best to wash off every bit of substrate as soon as you get the hatchlings out (i do it with light sprays of water).

so give us better details about how youre doing things, and perhaps we can help point out your problem more accurately.
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-Mike Martin
North Carolina

I have been keeping them on moist perlite in a styrofoam container. The temps were holding in the mid sixties both day and night. When the hatchlings made it out of the egg they did not seem to shed the first time. The first one was born when I was out of town so my husband found him. I don't know if it made it out of the incubator immediately. The second I found in the morning after checking last thing the night before. So at least one of them was not in the incubator for more than a couple hours. They seem weak. What else do you want to know.

Tanya

sometimes i have to assist hatchlings in their first shed. a lot of the time they at least need a lil bit of help with the shed after they leave a small piece on here or there. how have your temps been over the past 3 months? daily fluctuations in temp could possibly be a culprit, but not for sure. how long did the eggs take to incubate? it's really difficult to determine what could have killed your hatchlings. could have been too wet, could have been too dry. sometimes its just impossible to pinpoint the cause. hopefully their incubation chamber had some sort of ventilation? sorry, it's still kinda tough to find out what happened.
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-Mike Martin
North Carolina