in need of advice
- Thread starter zarko
- Start date
I have hatched/kept/raised veileds for a long time now and I have used the coarse vermiculite barely moist for almost all of that time. To test for moisture, take a fist full of it and if you can't squeeze more than a drop or two of water out of it the moisture should be right. I fill the container about half full so that there is room for the hatchlings to move around once they hatch until they are removed from the container. I use shoebox sized containers and punch two very small holes in the lid. I lay the eggs in rows in the containers.
I incubate them at about 78F (about 25C) on a homemade set up that I have used for the last 15+ years. It consists of a human heating pad with a (rectangle) frame made of 2" x 2" wood that fits over it. There is screen on the wooden frame to set the incubation containers on. I have them in a dark place in the basement. To adjust the temperature inside the containers, I raise the wood frame on shims until it is right. The reason I said "about" 78F is because since the containers are open to the room air, the temperature goes up and down slightly with the room temperature. I have close to 100% hatch rate of fertile veiled eggs doing it this way. I have had success incubating many other reptile eggs in this set up too.
Your eggs look fertile IMHO. They will grow as they incubate. They will likely get "windows", shrink in losing water andchange color to look less solid as they near the hatch date. The baby should slit the end of the egg and lay with its head out looking quite dead for anywhere from an hour or so to a day or more before climbing out of the egg.
I incubate them at about 78F (about 25C) on a homemade set up that I have used for the last 15+ years. It consists of a human heating pad with a (rectangle) frame made of 2" x 2" wood that fits over it. There is screen on the wooden frame to set the incubation containers on. I have them in a dark place in the basement. To adjust the temperature inside the containers, I raise the wood frame on shims until it is right. The reason I said "about" 78F is because since the containers are open to the room air, the temperature goes up and down slightly with the room temperature. I have close to 100% hatch rate of fertile veiled eggs doing it this way. I have had success incubating many other reptile eggs in this set up too.
Your eggs look fertile IMHO. They will grow as they incubate. They will likely get "windows", shrink in losing water andchange color to look less solid as they near the hatch date. The baby should slit the end of the egg and lay with its head out looking quite dead for anywhere from an hour or so to a day or more before climbing out of the egg.
Infertile eggs are smaller than fertile ones when laid....like comparing one of those fancy flavored jellybeans to the ordinary kind.
There is no way to estimate how many should go or be bad. It depends partly on when the female mated during her cycle how many of the eggs will be infertile. Then of the ones that are fertile...there can be some die off for various reasons before they incubate long enough to hatch.
I wish I could give you a better more precise answer.
There is no way to estimate how many should go or be bad. It depends partly on when the female mated during her cycle how many of the eggs will be infertile. Then of the ones that are fertile...there can be some die off for various reasons before they incubate long enough to hatch.
I wish I could give you a better more precise answer.
Here's some information that might help...you can look at the egg pictures and read about them too...
http://www.chameleonnews.com/year2003/mar2003/eggs/egg_incubation.html
http://www.chameleonnews.com/year2003/mar2003/eggs/egg_incubation.html
Vegas Chad
Avid Member
Never give up on eggs... keep them in till they turn to dust...
