No vermiculite,water incubation method!

[africancichlidau]

Hey Afro..... they look like chook eggs to me! Don't think that'll work too well, but I guess if you want to breed alternate food items......

Dai Bach!! You just had to tell everyone, didn't you?!?!

[herptrader]

Originally Posted by munkee

I'm curious couldn't this put the humidity too high and potentially rupture the eggs? I've read that can happen with high Humidity. Haven't incubated anything myself yet (next year). It would be good to find out if this is a good method especially for bhps.

My understanding is that humidity close to 100% and basically dry air is the ideal.

The vermiculite method works well because it absorbs any moisture in the air but keeps it available so the humidity stays at 100%. The larger the grade of vermiculite the better to improve air circulation around the eggs and keep condensed moisture away from the eggs. Vermiculite is also free of organic material which helps limit fungal growth and other problems.

It comes as no surpise that other methods, such as the one described in Greg Maxwell's book (which is now out of print BTW) are just as effective.

Both methods rely on well sealed containers to keep the humidity up. The simplicity of this approach has a lot of appeal.

[beknluke]

Hey Guys, can I just ask...
I have seen a lot of pics of snake eggs that are dinted - but have hatched?? I have always been told (in regards to dragon eggs) that if they start to deflate, you have to up the humidity or they can die. I am assuming that this is seriously not the case with python eggs? Is anyone able to share their experiences with lizard eggs? (Mods, you can move this if you need to) I would love to try that egg crate and water method but knowing my luck, all the lizards would hatch, get past the flywire and drown I think I'll stick to vermiculite for now

[herptrader]

I do not have first hand experience with lizard eggs so I will leave that question for somebody else.

With python eggs they seem to have some indentation from the moment they are laid and this is normal. A few days before hatching they seem to indent even more. I have presumed that this is because the egg is at the end of its life (having done its job as a little one on one python factory) and is dying. I further surmise that this is the cue for the baby python to get its egg tooth into action and start life outside of the egg.

Eggs that are drying out due to lack of humidy will obviously indent more. I have heard that they can recover when humidity is restored but I have never allowed my eggs to dry out.

Originally Posted by beknluke

Hey Guys, can I just ask...
I have seen a lot of pics of snake eggs that are dinted - but have hatched?? I have always been told (in regards to dragon eggs) that if they start to deflate, you have to up the humidity or they can die. I am assuming that this is seriously not the case with python eggs? Is anyone able to share their experiences with lizard eggs? (Mods, you can move this if you need to) I would love to try that egg crate and water method but knowing my luck, all the lizards would hatch, get past the flywire and drown I think I'll stick to vermiculite for now

[The Rock]

Herptrader,- I cant speak for anyone else but my egg containers are definitely not well sealed, infact I make sure that there are air holes on the lid down one end and afew on the side of container down other end. I also open the incubator every 1-2 days to expel unwanted gases and give a good air transfer.

[munkee]

Quoting Herptrader- "My understanding is that humidity close to 100% and basically dry air is the ideal." But dry air is 0% humidity and 100% humidity is where no more water can get evaporated into the air without some of the water already in the air condensing out (air saturated with water).

To me both methods appear very similar with the most important factor being avoiding moisture condensing directly on the eggs. Rock is right with good air flow being wanted, My guess is that rock's entire incubator has a high humidity rather than just in the containers.

Can anyone clarify any major differences in the vermiculite and the no substrate method with regards to differing conditions within the container that the eggs are in?

[The Rock]

No,- My incubators have no added humidity in fact they would be dry. The air holes are only small so the humidity is confind in the containers and the levels rely soley on the amount of moisture in the vermiculite.