HELP! Spiny tailed monitor egg incubation

[SnakePower]

Hi all!
I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on the topic of incubating spiny tailed monitor eggs?? My female laid 5 eggs last night, 4 look really good, just a bit dented, and a fifth was slightly yellow.
Do these eggs go on vermiculite and into the incubator like pythons eggs or is different care required???
Please if anyone could advise me I would be gratefull, it is my first monitor eggs and I don't want to loose them.
Thanks in advance!
S.P.

 

[Retic]

Yes just place them on vermiculite and be prepared for a VERY long wait. Good luck.

 

[SnakePower]

Thanks Boa!!!
Do they require a 50/50 vermiculite to water ratio?
I tried to candle one of the eggs and looked fairly light inside, is that because of the long incubation period, needs more time for the embrio's to develop?
Cheers and thanks again!

 

[Retic]

No problem, I used 50/50 then let it dry out a LITTLE as the eggs were getting a tiny amount of mould which didn't affect them. Then I just watered as necessary to keep the humidity up. It wasn't rocket science and the eggs seemed very tolerant.
Mine took exactly 100 days from memory but anything up to 130 or more is common and even longer with some species.
There are people on here with much more breeding experience with monitors.

 

[Sdaji]

Yep, incubating in 50:50 vermiculite:water, just like a python egg is perfect. I incubate my pygmy mulga monitor eggs right next to python eggs (thus the temperatures are the same too). As boa says, incubation takes a long time and depending on your conditions you might need to add water several times before they hatch. If they're dented they're dehydrated to some extent, but I've found that they're reasonably tolerant to it and will become round again after a few days in the moist substrate. I get the occasional dehydrated clutch but am yet to lose a dehydrated egg. Some people make the mix slightly wetter for dehydrated eggs, I find that eggs (including snake eggs) are able to take up (and also release it when they 'want' to) moisture more quickly in vermiculite than in perlite.

Good luck