Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My son found three eggs from his western fence project. I wish I could say with certainty that they'll do fine, but unfortunately they where laid over 1-1/2 week ago and moved quite a bit. They look nice and firm though. I transfered the eggs into my brand new homemade incubator Now is just a wait and see game from here.
My son is also expecting eggs from his side-blotchs... he said that he's going to keep a closer watch this time.

How were they moved around a lot? Were the left in a place where it is not noticeable during feeding or cleaning time? That is a very long time for eggs to be left in the enclosure, if they were left near a spot where there is a heat pad or light they are more than likely not good.
Foot Hill Reptiles

My son placed a nest box with moist fine sand on the cool side of the enclosure. The female fence used the nest box and covered the burrow up quite nicely. Well, my son didn't realize that she slimmed down, and went ahead with his routine of remoistening the sand box. That's how the eggs where sort of moved around.

Its hard to say but they may be fine however I guess it all depends on how long they were in the nest box before they were found witch since they were not noticed you really have no idea. Keep an eye on them and look for mold or drying out. Its fairly common for them to maybe "wrinkle" and "swell" as they take in moisture and get closer to the hatching date. however if they start to shrivel and discolor chances are they are bad and should just be tossed. Good luck either way it goes. What do you plan to do with the young? Set them free, keep them?
Foot Hill Reptiles

Well, the eggs shribbled-up. Found them today in a dehydrated state. They were most likely bad to being with. However, I've also put them in a new incubator that uses a small fan to circulate the warm air from the heating element to the enclosure. The enclosure kinda needs the fan to work effeciently... Not sure if this would be a factor when I incubate other eggs I'm expecting. What do you think about this? Should I be concerned about the fan though?

I would not be to worried unless they clearly have dried out or are molding, I have seen my eggs break amazing odds.
Foot Hill Reptiles

This may be too late, but it sounds like your eggs were good and were just allowed to get too dry.

I've had good luck hatching Sceloporus eggs by placing them in a deli cup with moist vermiculite. I bury them about 2/3rds of the way in the vermiculite (you want it moist, but not wet, about a 1:1 ratio of vermiculte to water by weight). I put a lid on the container and place it somewhere in the house where temperatures are relatively stable. I crack the lid once a week or so for air exchange and in about two months, they hatch. Temps are usually in the low to mid 70s.

If you're dealing with eggs that may have been rotated, look for the pinkish mass of the embryo and place that side up.

Thanks for the tip...
I had success hatchiing U. notatas, blotchies and S. occidentalis the same way you do it, but in a fanless incubator and with multiple tiny holes on the delicup.
The problem with this clutch is that they were turned around a bit and I used a delicup cup that had one too many holes for this new fan forced incubator I'm trying out... The fan and muliple holes in the delicup does not go.
Anyway, I currently have a clutch of G wislizenii in the new incubator for three weeks, and they look very nice. The only adjustment I had to make with this new incubator is to make only one hole in the delicup... none would probably be better.
Once again, thanks for the advice!