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Surprise clutch

L

lizwinz

New member
hi everyone,

i bought a few surplus adults from SerpenCo recently and one of my females laid 10 eggs today 1 was so badly deflated and squashed i didnt try to save it

she did not lay them in a clump like i've read the way most healthy eggs are laid but could this be due to the fact that the poor girl couldn't find a good spot (i had no egg laying box in her enclosure) and just started dropping them everywhere?

anywho...by the time i found them all but 2 were pretty dimpled but after putting them in a plastic shoe box w/moist perlite all but one look very tight and feel firm..i put some damp sphagum over it, maybe that will help

my setup for them now is the shoebox w/perlite over 4" flexwatt w/a thermometer and probe (the probe is sitting in the perlite in the same manner as the eggs) set at 78 degrees

i found them shortly before i had to go to work and had to use what I had on hand...i wasnt prepared at all for incubating but luckily since we are in the process of building a rack i had the flexwatt and a thermometer w/probe

my question is (after all this rambling on) do you think this setup is good enough, do i need to go get a proper incubator, or is it to late for that?

i also wonder whether they are fertile or not but i'll wait on that until i get some pics to show you all

looking forward to your opinions/advice,

--liz
 
Congrats on your clutch. Hopefully they will be fertile. I know a few people on here don't even use an incubator, just put them someplace warm for the duration (on top of the fridge or whatnot). I think for the ideal temps 82-86 is supposed to be great, but 78 should be fine. You'll probably just have to wait longer for them to hatch at the lower temp.
 
too cool is better than too hot - you should be fine at 78. I find it takes about 60 days at 82, so as Meg says - you'll just have to wait a little longer.

In my experience, they only plump back up well if they are fertile, and so you may be lucky here! Keep us posted.

Skye
 
thanks for the congrats & the replies

about the temp...i kind of went in the middle of the temps i've seen people say they will hatch at...i don't mind waiting a little longer and for some reason i cant explain i was nervous about going higher...thanks for making me feel better about the temp i chose

i have two more eggs dimpling so i added a bit more water and put moss over those two along with the other one...which still isnt looking any better but no worse hopefully they will firm back up with the added humidity?

i'm trying not to be too excited but i just (very gently) removed the eggs and shined a flashlight underneath them not expecting to see too much...and out of the nine eggs i very definately saw red veins in 8 of them including the three dimpled ones, the one that i did not see anything in is very firm and looks as good as the rest otherwise so i'm hopeful

am i wrong in thinking what i saw in the eggs means anything? i hope not...but if i am please break it to me gently :D

--liz
 
I had one of my corns lay a small second clutch.... before she laid them, I could feel 5 eggs, and was pretty sure one would be a slug... and I was right. Four eggs looked great. About five days after they were laid I candled them and saw robust veins in three of them, and nothing whatsoever in the fourth. I try not to disturb the eggs too much, and hadn't checked in a week... just checked today and the one with "nothing inside" has started to go bad. I am not sure why some eggs are definate slugs, and some look good but aren't fertile, but I don't believe the one egg was really ever fertile. Just looked good. Hopefully the other three will hatch.

Also, I had bad luck this year, but if I'd had good luck, I think that some eggs just aren't destined to be as "inflated" as others. I had 2 corn eggs and 1 king egg that were deflated for more than 2/3rds of their incubation, and all three had live full term babies in them. (the corns, along with almost all my corns that hatched this year, were deformed). So I don't consider that an indication that for sure an egg will be in jeapardy.

Anyway, hope that helped.
 
thanks, now i know not to give up on the deflated ones if they dont start to look better, i was even worried that the deflating and inflating might harm them

sorry to hear about your bad luck, i've seen your threads about it (i've been "lurking" here for some time) and i cant imagine the frustration at seeing your poor little guys turn out that way

best of luck on the 3 eggs you have left and for a better year next year

--liz
 
red veins is definitely a sign that means good news to you. I would recommend a minimum of handling during the incubation period though.

Skye
 
oh definitely...i wont disturb them at all anymore except to take the cover off to check on them once and a while

but thanks for the advice ;) it IS tempting to see it again or show someone else but i wont

--liz:)
 
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