Dimples

[Azixs]

(For the question, just skip down to the bottom four lines)

First of all, I'd just like to drop of a quick thank you to the people who answered some of my earlier questions. Thanks guys!


Ok, so dead on four weeks after my female became noticeably gravid, she's finally finished laying 16 healthy looking eggs. She's doing fine, and ate without a problem when I offered her a smaller meal than normal.

By the time I found them (The morning after laying) the eggs were all bound together, so I decided rather than try to separate them I would just pick up the whole lot and put them into the vermiculite, with the aid of a spatula.


I put the water into the vermiculite in a 1:1 ratio, 750g vermiculite and 750g water. The eggs are buried around half way into the vermic.

The box which the eggs + vermic are in are in turn sitting inside a pretty decent incubator, which is keeping the eggs at around 24'C (93.2'F).


Humidity is currently sitting at around 80% BUT I recently noticed that one of the eggs has a smallish "dimple" at the top of it.

Is this normal? Or is it a sign that the humidity is too low, in which case, should I mist it? If so, then how regularly?

Thanks,


Azixs.

 

[diamondlil]

what day of incubation are they on? Any chance of a picture?

 

[wade]

EEEEE gods man does that say 24'C (93.2'F)? Way too hot. The eggs should be incubated at around 80 to 82 degrees F. That is major too hot. It will kill the eggs.

When the eggs are new and in the incubator, denting would be a sign of dehydration. I would mist the once or twice. Some people say not to mist them but poor a little water in the corner and let it distribute itself. I don’t think it matters. But you will only do this a couple of times not on a regular basis.

If they continue to dent, you probably have too much ventilation. They should be in a somewhat airtight container so they don’t dry out. Not completely air tight but nearly so.

If they are denting near the end of their term, that is an indication that they are about ready to pip. That is a good thing.

Hope that helps. Turn down the temp fast, like right now.

 

[Azixs]

Thanks for the heads up, I dropped the temperature down to 28'C (82'F).

The eggs are on their first day of incubation, which is why I was worried about the dimple. Ventilation probably isn't the cause of the problem, the incubator I'm using is sold commercially by a well known brand (over here anyway).

I'll post up a pic tomorrow, my camera battery went dead like 5 minutes ago.

Thanks,

Azixs

 

[PJ@PJCReptiles]

How long do you think the eggs were with momma before you found them? Did you know she was gravid? You dropped the temps, so keep an eye on them. Give them a few days and see how they look.

Of course, pictures do help us help you.

Good Luck
PJ

 

[diamondlil]

I'm afraid that heat setting may have killed the eggs, hopefully not.

 

[Azixs]

The eggs were in a pre-made nesting box filled with Moss. I had chedked the previous night to ane they wern't there, so I can only assume that they had been left there overnight. (7-8 hours) I was well aware that she was gravid.

Also, I had the eggs in the overly-high tempreture for just over 16 hours.

Humidity is still at a firm 80%. yet another of the eggs had dimpled.

 

[Floof]

To retain moisture around the eggs, try laying some lightly dampened spaghnum moss or paper towel over the top of the eggs. Good luck! =)

 

[smerten]

I have had eggs dimple too soon, then over compensated by adding too much water, then killing them that way! This is only my second year breeding, so I am not an expert, but warm, wet paper towels draped over the eggs has worked for me. One thing I learned is to be patient, the dimpling will take a few days to fill out. Good luck!

 

[Buzzard]

I had a incubator malfunction once and some eggs got to 95 degrees but I caught it within 24 hours and was able to still get 13 out 15 eggs to hatch. Just keep an eye on them. The paper towel idea is what I use. Sometimes you get some that dent and they just do not make it. It sucks, but it happens. Oh...Congrats on the Eggs

 

[Azixs]

Thanks. And it's good to know that there's still hope. I'm going to be pretty mad at myself if one early morning screw up has cost all these unborn snakes their lives.

Pics:

Snapped this one with the incubator light on. Thought it looked interesting, So I kept it.

 

[Azixs]

Whoops, sorry. Wrong picture for the final image, sorry if they're a little big.

 

[diamondlil]

Fingers crossed for you.

 

[wade]

Yes I too will cross my fingers. The eggs look fine right now. Only time will tell.

 

[Drizzt80]

around 24'C (93.2'F).

I dropped the temperature down to 28'C (82'F)

I know my math skills are rusty coming to the end of the summer, but going from 24*C to 28*C isn't a drop, so I broke out the conversion calculator and:

24*C = 75.2*F
28*C = 82.4*F

The good news is you didn't fry your eggs! (Unless of course you meant 34*C in your original post! That's a problem.) The other good news is that 75.2*F isn't too low either, so you didn't do any temperature harm at that end either! (Unless of course you meant 34*C in your original post.)

You've got great advice from everyone else, so I just wanted to correct the math.

D80

 

[wade]

By golly the Drizzt is right!!!

Celsius =24
Fahrenheit =75.2
Kelvin =297.15
Reaumur =19.2
Rankine =534.87

 

[Drizzt80]

By golly the Drizzt is right!!!

Unfortunately, if Azixs mistyped and meant 34 instead of 24 . . .

D80

 

[Azixs]

I'll put my temperatures in F from now on, since that seems to be the most used measurement here.

It was a mistype, I originally put the eggs on at 93F (For some reason I had it going through my head that that was the right temperature, when I had learned from loads of different places that it was very very wrong.)

I only corrected this when I saw your post Wade, so providing that they're are not dead already, you may have saved them. Thanks!


I've put a couple of paper towels, dampened in warm water on top of the eggs, I will let you know if they re-shape within the next few days.

 

[Azixs]

The eggs fully reformed within 24 hours.

Now the waiting really begins..