Egg incubation problems

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eddie123

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I have had over 35 bearded dragon eggs in my hovabator and I am now left with less than 25. They keep slowly shrivelling up and then dying. I mixed a 50/50 verm mix and tubs are airtight and their is lots of water on lid of tubs and substrate still holds shape. Some eggs are a month old and over half of the 16 have died and now the new clutch of 20 are fading slowly. All eggs had bright veins once laid and the eggs look healthy before they shrivel. I have knobtail gecko eggs in the same incubator and they are doing great. I don't think it is not enough humidity but I cannot find the effects of too much humidity. The temps in the incubator range from 27-29. Any help is great
Will add photos soon
 
Not all egg deaths are from incubation issues, some eggs just don't have what it takes for whatever reason. In saying that too much water can kill them and I usually dab up any excess water on the lid of the tubs with paper towel until there is only some light misting on the sides.
 
If there is water on the lids, it's not getting the right temps. Water will form on the coldest part of the container.
 
2 digital thermometers and a circle thermometer

I dont know how accurate the circle thermometers are but if you are talking about the cheap digital thermometers you get on ebay then they are often out by as much as 3c. I would invest in an infrared gun thermometer for next season.
 
Have your tryed dusting them with an anti fungal powder? U might have some bacteria on the eggs witch will slowly kill them
 
If there is water on the lids, it's not getting the right temps. Water will form on the coldest part of the container.

Moisture will always form on the warmer & more humid side of the glass. On a cool damp night the windows of a car fog up on the inside where it is warmer than the outside air.

The temps inside the eggs container will be slightly higher as the substrate be is vermiculite or just water acts as a heat sink and retains heat. Whereas the air temp in the incubator will fluctuate as much as the dead zone on the t/stat.

Also metabolic activity of the developing hatchie will cause a slight temp increase of up 1C

junglepython2 is correct, some embryos are weak and just meant not to hatch.
 
my beardie eggs tub sits at a constant 28.4 while the incubator sits at 31
 
I feel for ya, it can be heartbreaking to watch.

Egg loss has happened to me also over the years. For next season I would recommend a temp gun, the no substrate method, scrap the hova and make your own incubator with a quality pulse proportional thermostat.

For this season perhaps start a new egg container with a fresh vermiculite mix. There should not be excess water dripping onto the eggs as this can ruin them.
 
I have made a fresh batch of vermiculite and with one container 60/40 and the other 50/50. Candled all eggs and discarded the bad and I am left with 5 from the first clutch and eight from the second. Probes and hydrometers are in the egg containers and the incubation temp was raised to 29-31

Hope something goes well
 
31 is the temperature ive hatched beardy eggs at with the probe inside the egg container ,worked well.
 
I lost some eggs recently too...

Didn't expect them and all I had at the time to incubate with was Bunnings play sand and a small take away container (air holes in the top).

Filled it half way up with the play sand, put the eggs in about half way deep in the sand.
Taped the thermostat probe on the inside of the lid. Set it to 31.
There was a fair bit of condensation on top of the inside of the lid. Not so much on the sides though.
Eggs seemed okay to start with but all are shriveled up now and gone.
Water would very slightly drip on the eggs every now and again when opening the container to check on the eggs. But I always dabbed them off with paper towel. Eggs were always dry apart from this.

I've been racking my brain trying to think what I've done wrong.
I feel pretty bad about it. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thanks guys.

I hope the rest of yours hatch for you Eddie.
 
don't use sand, i tried it with my first clutch this season and lost the whole clutch. also i think i added to much water to vermiculite and lost my 4th clutch. but used a 50/50 water and perlite and hatched 2 good clutches, at 29 degrees.

we all learn from our mistakes just keep trying.
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Water would very slightly drip on the eggs every now and again when opening the container to check on the eggs. But I always dabbed them off with paper towel. Eggs were always dry apart from this.

I've been racking my brain trying to think what I've done wrong.
I feel pretty bad about it. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thanks guys.

I hope the rest of yours hatch for you Eddie.

Water dripping on the eggs blocks the pores which usually ends up in the egg dying
 
Has anyone ever tried moist coco-peat/kritters krumble as an incubation substrate?
Or is vermiculiite the only substrate people really use during incubation?
How's the eggs over water with no substrate method go?

Water dripping on the eggs blocks the pores which usually ends up in the egg dying

Yeah but there's always some form of condensation in most incubation methods I've seen - so they are bound to have water drip on them at some point?
Plus how does that explain this... As soon as it rained the eggs would be toast. It was a crappy day as it was when I found them - One of the eggs had already fallen from the rest.
Only reason I brought them in was because I didn't believe they would last outside where they were.

Here's the four eggs. Note I left the two hatched eggs in place so I didn't disturb the others



And the two baby Geckos.

 
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