Reptile & Amphibian Forums

the last few days my WC female U geyri was looking realy big so i put in a nest box as described by doug dix, but she hated it, and today she unxpectedly laid behind it on the millet 14 eggs!!, i thought mabie six or seven tops, now Iam quite concerned as the eggs have red spot in the center of them and waxy feeling and soft not hard, i quickly and gently rubbed all the millet off them and have them in the laying box until i can figure out the best way to incubate them, please let me know if they look good, would makeing an incubater with an aquarium heater in a cool/tank be too humid for them? i have three bird incubaters but they are all ato set at 99F anyone think putting a dimmer on them to lower the temp would work?

Do you have her with a male? If they mated there is a good chance these are viable eggs, but need to get into an incubator at 92F soon. Also, the millet may dry them out pretty quickly, but I am not 100% on that. Biggest issue trying to incubate eggs is keeping a consistent temperature that doesnt fluctuate much. Also humidity could be troublesome. I have no idea what the humidity should be, but the eggs should not have any condensation on them, and they should also not be too dry. I would keep checking it daily to see if you need to raise the humidity at all.

Good luck

yes she is with a male and i saw some mateing about a month ago but i think she was gravid when i got her, if iam reading DFF site right the red spot iam seeing meens there fertil, a lot of water biuld up in the lay box i have them in wich i hope wont hurt the eggs, iam still trying to find a proper incubater as my bird ones wont go below 95f, the eggs have whitened but have not hardend up that much but it dos say on DFF it could take a day or two, i hope its not because of the high humidity or lack of calcium in the female, can anyone give me an idea what the humidity should be or a ratio of water to vermiculite by wieght? should there be water forming on the top/sides of the container?

There should be no chance of water dripping onto the eggs, if you have water on the top of the container its probably too humid.

The eggs are probably fertile, but uro eggs are very difficult to hatch, especially if you aren't ready for them when they come. Do what you can for the eggs, but don't get your hopes up too much. Doug's info is a good place to start. Vermiculite and water: I don't know the ratio by weight - I just get it wet, then squeeze out as much as possible by hand. Last year, I was kind of caught off guard and my "good" incubator was full of collared eggs. I used a hovabator (no fan) and rubbermaid containers with moist vermiculite. The hovabator was problematic (too much temp fluctuation), but the vermiculite got the job done.

What's more important right now is your female. Make sure she has access to a water dish right away. Let her have water every day until she stops drinking it. Provide plenty of calcium in her diet and lay off the dry food items (grasses, lentils, seed, etc) until you're sure she's well hydrated again. It's very hard work making those eggs, and she needs some extra care for a little while!

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Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1.3 Saharan Uros (Joe, Arthur, Hitch, Lefty, and Skywalker)
3.0 Mali Uros (Spike, Turtle, and Tank)
1.1 Ornate Uros (Scuttlebutt and Shazzbot)
1.3 Collared Lizards (Ripcord, Thiamine, Riboflavin, and Niacin)
2.0 Green Anoles (Bowser and Sprocket)
1.1 Chubby Housecats (Roscolux and Jenny)

i have been soaking the female as i dont whant to put a water dish in the cage and risk it spilling, i have also been giveing her plenty of calcium on her food.

can you tell how the eggs are supposed to look? should they go hard like chicken eggs? right now they are white but quite soft not like they were fresh liad though, one has a dent and one has gone green.

i finaly got my good expensive incubator(with fan)to 91 and iam about to clean it out and put in the eggs,

do you put holes in the egg containers and do you add a source of water to the incubator?

stop soaking... this is adding much more stress then you realize. use a milk cap for a water dish for now. dont worry if it gets spilled, its not going to do any harm. Just give her the chance to drink a little water now and then

the batterie on my scale whent dead a wile ago so i did not get a chance to weigh the female after she laid her eggs but finaly got a new batterie today and weighed her, and shes about 210gs!, the scale was not quite level so i rounded it down a bit, but the last time i weighed her wile she was gravid she was around 180gs, so she has realy packed it on after laying, i have been feeding her pretty much non stop as she looked so bad right after laying, Iam glad she is looking healthy again and i hope i will have better luck with breeding them, now that i know what to look for, next year.