Adam's eggs

[Slateman]

Hi Adam. I looked at your photos in the album and I would like to ask you why your first diamonds eggs did not hatched. As we are all trying to breed and many of us do not have enough experiance, I would appreciate if you can share with us reason or why you think that happend.
Thank you

 

[Adam]

Well good question! There are only 4 eggs that looked viable in my opinion and from what I have been told it's because the vent holes in my incubotor let flies in that laid maggots. The incubator is an $800 job from Multiquip and is advertised as a reptile or chook egg incubator so I'm not sure there. The sand was only an emergency,the next day I used vermiculite. The 4 good looking eggs just went black and caved in. I kept the water in the bottom of the tray at the right level as with the vermiculite,if you look close at the photo you can see where I poured water into the sand to keep it moist.The problem is this is only my 3rd year at keeping snakes and the first lot off eggs I got. That's my thoughts now Please help me wiyh any other idea's so next year if my other 2 big girls lay,Iwill have more of a chance.Do I have to stop flies getting in,if so how does it happen in nature? I'm sure snakes don't have access to flyscreens in the wild. :?:

 

[africancichlidau]

Was your egg container open? I have just hatched my first eggs also but did so in a fully sealed click-clack which I opened about once a week through the incubation period to check the eggs and replace the stale air. There was no way flies could have got at the eggs.

 

[Simon_Archibald]

*^*

 

[jungle_inc]

Hi Adam, why dont you close off the vent holes? I dont think there is any need for air vents from my limited experience. I did a post a while back regarding my home built fridge, cost next to nothing to build, fridge was free from the side of the road, put in a cermaic heater at the bottom and thermostat mid way up the fridge, also had an old computer fan blowing on the ceramic to circulate the fridge. Incubator containers were bought from woolworths, i just put the vermiculite in mixed with water at the ratio of 1:1, although this time round i am going to use a little less water(had condensation probs) and closed the lid. Every 4 or5 days i would open the containers and fan the eggs for a second or 2 and then closed the lid again. This was my first year breeding, had three clutches in the incubator and only lost one viable egg 3 weeks into incubation.

 

[Simon_Archibald]

*^*

 

[jungle_inc]

One more thing, did you make sure that you placed the eggs in the exact position in which they were laid, i heard if you mess with that it causes embryo starvation or something, i was a bit scared pulling the eggs apart so i just put the whole clutch in adhered to each other, 1/2 buried half not.

 

[africancichlidau]

Same here jinc, I couldn't seperate the clutch so it went in as it was laid.

 

[ad]

This is a good thread and I hope more breeders contribute.
My childreni eggs had no lid and were incubated in a fridge as they were laid. These were successful.
My boyds eggs failed, I beleive I mixed the vermiculite too wet. This was combined with letting them get too cool overnight and a fungus/mould grew on the eggs which ruined them. Some eggs I cleaned off with a cottontip and some I left, cleaning them is the correct thing to do.
I had the container sealed for them and had too much condensate. Again, too wet. General rule for boyds or angleheads for incubation is to put them just in the laundry cupboard, I found this too inconsistant with temps. Generally they can fluctuate between 21 and 31 degrees( max either way) , with a consistancy at 25-27. Breeders recommend to let the temp fluctuate a bit.
I will try consistant incubation in a fridge next time, I think the fluctuation will occur still by a few degrees and Im hoping this will be enough. It means 2 incubators though, 1 for the boyds at 25 and one for pythons higher.
Jinc, you need to keep the eggs in the position they were laid because of the position of the hatchy and the yolk sak, the yolk sak can kill the hatchy if the egg is turned.

 

[Slateman]

I know nothing about reptiles eggs, as I did not had this privilege yet.
But what I know from birds eggs, If you turn them wrong direction, the embryo suffocate because cant breed from air deposit on the top of the egg. Mabe this is similar with reptile eggs.

 

[craig23]

Hi,

There are alot of papers on the internet that will instruct you on how to incubate reptile eggs, and there is almost no reason why viable eggs shouldnt hatch. Adam, your right, it only looks as if there are 3 or 4 viable eggs in that lot, but how long did it take for these good looking eggs to discolour and cave in? There is still the posabillity they were not viable at all. If they went bad within a few days to a week, I would say they were not viable and you possibly did nothing wrong.
There is no reason why flys would be a problem unless the eggs were bad in the first place. The egg shell is there to protect the egg from such things and a healthy eggs is unlikely to be fly blown.

You can built an incubator any way you like. The important things are simple.
HUMIDITY- 50% vermiculite 50% water by weight ( or a little less water) will provide the correct humidity. Place this in an airtight (or near airtight) container and half or completely burry the eggs. I would use a 20lt container for say a dozen eggs, and half fill it with the vermiculite mix.

TEMP, the temp INSIDE the egg container is whats important... it should be between 28 and 32 C
How you achieve this isnt important, as long as it is constant. You can use a couple of light globes and a good thermostat and place the probe inside the egg container through a small hole. a well insulated incubator is best, I have seen people use a foam box, esky, and one of the best is an old fridge.

Dont take my word for it, goto http://www.smuggled.com/egg1.htm and read Brian Barnetts paper on egg incubation.... Its simple, dont question his method, because it has worked for many hundreds of his snakes, and probably thousands australia wide. It will answer all your questions.

regards
Craig

 

[olivaceus71]

Just wondering why you used sand to incubate in???? My python eggs are incubated in vermiculite in lettuce crisper containers, (with domed lid so excess moisture slides down side of container not onto eggs.) a small hole is drilled in the top through which I place a probe thermometer, and if the moisture builds up too much I remove cover on small hole and leave open for a day or so, think I did mixture 60vermiculite and 40 water (boiled water)
I also incubate in a clump with 100% success rate this year. Dragon eggs I do at 50/50 have incubated in peat moss/sand mix (with varying success rates, mildew probs etc) angle heads on spaghnum moss, vermiculite for beardies, water dragons, and peat mix for mountain dragons. Mostly it is trial and error, as I lost a whole clutch of beardie eggs the first year as they had glad wrap on top on container and I was too curious checking them all the time and too much moisture.

cheers
meg

 

[marc]

Hi Adam, you say that the sand was an emergency, ok then, that photo must be taken soon after she laid, it looks like 8 out of 12 were slugs (infertile. in my opion it looks that only two may have made it full term) to your knowlegde is it the females first clutch (usually dont produce good eggs). Snad is always a bad substrate to use as it will not allow the eggs to exspand as it fills with mosture, if you are left without vermiculite just use wet tissue or paper towl or you can use a wet bath towl just untill you get to the shop to by the right substrate, mix water and vermic 1:1 and leave it, to much water will drown the embrio and not enough will dehydrate. Keep the container sealed and open once a week to let fresh air in, hope that helps you Ad.

 

[olivaceus71]

Hi Adam, you say that the sand was an emergency, ok then, that photo must be taken soon after she laid, it looks like 8 out of 12 were slugs (infertile. in my opion it looks that only two may have made it full term) to your knowlegde is it the females first clutch (usually dont produce good eggs). Snad is always a bad substrate to use as it will not allow the eggs to exspand as it fills with mosture, if you are left without vermiculite just use wet tissue or paper towl or you can use a wet bath towl just untill you get to the shop to by the right substrate, mix water and vermic 1:1 and leave it, to much water will drown the embrio and not enough will dehydrate. Keep the container sealed and open once a week to let fresh air in, hope that helps you Ad.

sorry I missed the emergency quote, anyway you can leave eggs with the mother for a few hours anyway, what did she lay them on or did i miss that one as well, maybe the fact that you moved the eggs on the 2nd day had something to do with the few viable ones not hatching, also the change in temp so soon after incubating might not have helped

 

[marc]

The sand was only an emergency,the next day I used vermiculite. :?:

leaving the eggs with the mother is fine but I wouldnt do it for very long as the snake as already used alot of energy laying and it takes along time for condition to return to the animal, which may create health problems.

 

[Adam]

Well thanx everyone. No it wasn't her first time although it was while in my possession. I think I used to much water. I have a hole in the side of the container for the thermostat to go into. The incubator is a Brisea modular hatcher with no light source only a heat par in it somewhere,it has a battery operated light on the front as well as an inspection window.Ok I will block the holes and put a lid on it next time. I did be very carefull to keep the eggs in the correct position that she laid them in and there was no substrate in her hide box as she wasn't ment to be gravid when I got them(her and a male 7 footer).The good looking eggs caved in and discoloured in about a week while the other slugs just grew white fungus. Thanx all I don't think I done wrong know but if I did it was because I had too much water. Someone once told me if the egg starts to cave in it may be that it is too dry. Now I know to mix 60%ver. 40% water I had it say 65 to 35 in the way of the water,and no they weren't floating before somebody says it!!All in all I think you have helped me greatly and next year WILL be a different matter! :twisted: