Help with first clutch

[marksmates]

Hi this is my first time at this and i hope im in the right place to ask for help. My beardies had there first clutch 2 weeks ago. Within 24 hrs they started to look sunken. I have them in an air tight container with vermiculite which i did 1;1 with water. The temp is around 30 and the humidity is around 98. I am slowly loosing them though. we started with 18 and 9 so far have changed colour and produced a smell so i have got rid of them. What am i doing wronge?

 

[bredli-sli]

the eggs cant breathe?

 

[marksmates]

I was told it needed to be air tight for the humidity and to open it after 50 day to allow fresh air in then Is that not right?

 

[RELLIK81]

i thought you were meant to open the lid every week to circulate air....could be wrong tho

 

[beeman]

have you candled them to see if they are fertile?
And as far as the airtight container to maintain humidity, Yet again another load of bulldust, There are many breeders that use ventilated egg containers with 100% success rates. We do and our incubator is also ventilated.

 

[marksmates]

Thanks. I will take lid off a bit . Not sure what u mean by candled but i did cut open one egg that was off and it had yellow in it with two red dots i guessed that that ment they were fertile.

 

[CodeRed]

Did you roll the eggs at all?

 

[iluvlizards69]

Candle them by shinning a torch thru the egss to see if u can see blood vessels etc

 

[bowdnboy]

Healthy, fertile beardy eggs wont start dying within 24 hrs! My guess is that they prob werent fertile to begin with.
OR, theyve been rolled too long after laying. How long after she layed them to you get them out. The only other thing I think of is if she dropped them in the enclosure somewhere and they cooked from too much heat before taking them out. Did she lay them in a lay box?

Get a torch and press it slightly on the egg and candle them to see if you can see red veins. Healthy eggs will appear white and rounded with red veins, and a red tinge in parts. Non fertile will be a yellow color and be elongated slightly.

 

[Lollypop]

I drill 2 small holes in either end of the lid, cover with tape for the first 2-3 days until the humidity is evident then remove the tape. I also have the vents open slightly in the incubator, & check once or twice a wk re eggs health, so am removing the lid that often. But I also bury my eggs in the vermiculite for no reason......

 

[Kyro]

I had the same problem last year with one clutch in vermiculite so I very carefully moved the remaining good eggs over to a fresh container of perlite/vermiculite & didn't have any problems after that. I found the mix of the two much better to use than just vermiculite but that's just my preference

 

[marksmates]

Thanks heaps. i have just candled one and now i'm very excited i did see vains and a shadow at the bottom. She didnt use the lay box she was digging before she had them but just had them at the front on the ground.They werent there at 6 pm but were found at 11pm. They were not turned at all ever. I am wondering i had red sand down but my female got a blockage 6 months ago and the vet told me to change to 100% natural kitty litter. That is what she layed on. i now wonder if they dryed out becouse of that? Any ideas? What do u recommend for the base of there inclosure?

 

[marksmates]

I will start opening them each day to give fresh air too

 

[Lollypop]

Whereas I love sand for my beardies, if she had a blockage once, why not try a rough textured tile or lino, & have a lay box - they're normally pretty reliable with the 3 wk mark for 2nd clutch of eggs.

 

[marksmates]

Do you put anything on top of the lino? wouldn't my rocks and logs just wreck it/

 

[Lollypop]

Here's an example:

Don't mind the fluon - kids don't like woodies in their bedrooms:lol: I just got an offcut from a lino wholesale place, cheap as chips, & the beardies can actually walk properly on it! I also compromised with half sand, feed on the lino section. Hope that helps!

 

[marksmates]

That looks awesome. Easy to clean too. Do they push the bricks around when digging? Is the sand damp?

 

[Lollypop]

I only keep my littlies indoors, so don't know - if I were to keep the big females in a setup like that, & they were gravid, I'd have the bricks at least 2 or 3 high & use a sandy loam (which u wet initially & they can then dig a burrow into). So not much help with the egglaying side sorry!

 

[marksmates]

Thanks i guess i need to set something like this up for my babies. It's my adults im wanting to change. do u have babys often? I have read a lot about feeding them and them hatching but how long till u sell them and where? Thanks for all your help.

 

[Lollypop]

Don't get me wrong - I'd use this set-up for my big ones, I just have a large outdoor enclosure they all go out in once it's warm enuf, or they're big enuf to stay out - that's from 1-1&1/2 yrs old.
Hopefully someone else who does the indoor laybox thing can help u out. Mine all dig into sandy loam heaps outside.
For my little hatchlings, I use paper towel if indoors.
Rule of thumb I go by with hatchies is 6wks or 6inches, whichever comes first - others differ. U can sell privately, over the net, or local petstores - up to you really.