High % of egg deaths

[GirlZilla]

I had a high number of egg deaths when I allowed the eggs to be unseparated in a container. I now use the tacklebox method (each egg SEPARATE) with calcined clay as a hatching medium. It is FANTASTIC and I did not have one egg death last year. I think the babies were knocking the other eggs around when they hatched, and it caused the developing babies inside to die. SEPARATE those eggs into individual compartments and use a different hatching medium--like for pond lilies, the calcined clay. It's incredibly easy to tell when it's dried out, as it gets very light in color, and when it's correctly saturated it's dark. Plus, when I previously used vermiculite, I had a baby take a mouthful of it and die inside the hatching container. That does not happen with the clay, period.

EDIT--Many places don't even know they have calcined clay, they don't know what all of the mediums are made of--You have to ask for pond lily planting medium.

[meg90]

Are your temps fluctuating a lot? I know a high spike will kill off an egg, even late term. Other than that, too much humidity and you can have neonates drown in their eggs.

Laura, I don't think eggs being pushed by siblings late term really does anything. I've seen babies turn, and roll around in their eggs late term while candling. They aren't so much "attached" to the wall of the egg as they are when they are in the embryonic/cell splitting stage. I also talked to a member who experimented and turned her eggs throughout the incubation period and she never lost one.

I candle my eggs when they're laid to get an idea of how "strong" the embryo is. I would suggest doing this. Really faint or nonexistent red and you can kinda of prepare yourself in case the embryo isn't going to be strong enough to survive.

[nsime]

no, the incubator is set to 74 but it only fluxtuates between 74 ad 76, nothing to major. the eggs are looking better than any of the ones last season atleast, i just cought my on female laying last night, and right after she jumpped out of the box and ran away i took the eggs out, they were already dented but i put them into the incubator, put a little wet napkin on them and they filled out. the humidity in the actually around 43 in the incubator itself, but i dont what it is in the actual sealed containor humidity is. but the ones that start out plump or the ones that were dented and then i pop out stay plump and dont re dent, and there is no pooling of water anywhere in the container so im guessing the humididty is right, i normally just fill the container with the vermiculite, then moist the whole substrate and drain any excess water, and then i check it once a week to make sure its still moist and its normally just fine. the first eggs should be hatching at the end of april i think, but im not going to be surprised if it will be longer, i normally incubated them around 78 degrees but i read threads saying that 72-74 is a great range. O_O

[GirlZilla]

Huh, I guess I don't know what it was then. I was using the same substrate in a deli cup, but the eggs weren't separated. Now that they're separated, everything is perfect.

Isn't it important to have the same side up as how it was laid?

[meg90]

Honestly incubating at 78 could have been what was killing off your eggs last season. That is really very much on the hot side. I've been keeping my eggs between 67-71F--nice and cool. And I would REALLY suggest getting a probe or putting a hygrometer in the actual egg container, and getting a read of the humidity. My eggs sit around 99% humidity I believe.

72-74 is a great mid-range temp spread. Did someone tell you to incubate your eggs hotter than that? Did you read it somewhere? Low and slow is known to produce better structure. What did the heads of your hatchlings look like, when they were incubated at 78 degrees?

Laura--I guess that's what she set out to disprove, that you can roll your eggs and still have them hatch. I don't turn my eggs, and I mark which side is up, but if you get a chance, candle yours late term, and watch those babies dance around in there.

[nsime]

well i was told a couple of things, first I was told 80, i set it to 78, had a couple hatchlings, 2 are ok structure, one is just horrible. but there was that form link, idk where it went now but it basically said that over 80 degrees they peeped and died, same thing with the high 60s, but between 70 and 75 he had the best hatch rate and structure if i am not mistaken, probably am though.

but on the update s with the eggs i kindled them, i found a hand wound flash light of all things and the ones i have pictured all have alot of reddish dark areas in them so that should be good but last night i had two geckos lay,jujube laid two clutches this year and the first st was not good, i took a look at the new set and it was just a greenish yellow glow with no red cheerios so I'm guessing they are no good right?

now the second clutch of eggs was from Rusty, i was always worried about rusty, for background info she was bought at a reptileshow about 2 years ago, she was probably around 5 grams, well i bought her with another gecko from the same breeder, and he was the same size and everything, but over time I noticed she wasn't eating as much as the other one,and a little later I stopped finding droppings altogether, i tried to feed her cgd by hand but she wouldn't even lick it off, she would just rub her nose against my hand to get it off, well it got to the point where the other gecko was double her size so i got crickets, dunked them into crested gecko diet, spray her face with water, wait for her to lick and once she did I would shove the ovipositor into her mouth and once in she would take the cricket at will, i had to do that every day for about a month until she started to eat on her own again, well now that is over a year and a half later I don't think she really filled out like a normal gecko, she fluctuates between 27 and 31 grams for the last couple months, she always seems lumpy, and I think she got MBD from when she was little, and im not to sure if is me or if is really there but I think her back show the signs, but no tail kinking, no droopy jaws or any thing, she had her first virgin eggs last night and she dropped to 26 grams :-|, she is lucky it didnt mess up her hips IMO, but they were well calcified, but small and dinky, i snapped a photo of her this morning

idk, it really upsets me, she is my trouble child and I never want her to breed because of all her little problems, it is disappointing because she is my best structured red, but i hope she will be ok

[StellarAwesome]

Isn't it important to have the same side up as how it was laid?

I'm the one who rolled her eggs. Of the eggs laid and rolled, all hatched excluding one. However it was an egg from a first year breeder and I'm chalking it up to that (as the clutchmate kept in the exact same conditions survived as well as 4 eggs from another female).

I did the little project because I had read of at least two other people who did a few 'tests' where they'd pick an egg or two and roll them through out the incubation period both with successful hatchings. In addition to that I've read of people with vast collections pulling eggs and essentially tossing them in a bucket and then taking all the eggs to incubators.. that combined with how many people come here to post freak out posts of "I've Dropped My Egg!" and then go on to still have the eggs hatch..

Beyond testing that out last season, I really just intend to pull eggs and place them in the incubator and leave 'em alone.

So I sincerely doubt egg turning was what caused these eggs to go bad. It sounds like a combination of first year breeders, humidity and high temps IMO.

[nsime]

i picked up a hydrometer today on the way to campus., ill stick it in there tonight

[GirlZilla]

That is amazing info, Meg and Ansli!! That's why I love the forum, I learn new stuff all the time. Thanks for sharing that.

[nsime]

i put the hydrometer in and it read 85% humidity, should I bump that up to the 90s?
another female laid last night, no cherrio but there was two sets of vains in there