Insects in incubation medium

[cheacvdm]

Hi

I am looking for some advice please!

I have fertile veiled eggs in peat moss (I tried to sterilize it by letting it soak in boiling water before squeezing out the excess and letting it cool before setting the eggs). It seems that now that when I find a dead egg, there are tiny (almost like lice) insects scurring away. I am almost certain that I need to transfer the eggs to new medium (vermiculite?) but as these eggs are from my prized male that died only a few months ago due to an unknown fungus, I am really scared. Can anyone give me some tips/advice on what would be best and least disruptive to the eggs? They were laid in March and some are already showing veins. I am incubating at 26-27°C.

Thanks!

 

[jojothefirst]

Hi

I am looking for some advice please!

I have fertile veiled eggs in peat moss (I tried to sterilize it by letting it soak in boiling water before squeezing out the excess and letting it cool before setting the eggs). It seems that now that when I find a dead egg, there are tiny (almost like lice) insects scurring away. I am almost certain that I need to transfer the eggs to new medium (vermiculite?) but as these eggs are from my prized male that died only a few months ago due to an unknown fungus, I am really scared. Can anyone give me some tips/advice on what would be best and least disruptive to the eggs? They were laid in March and some are already showing veins. I am incubating at 26-27°C.

Thanks!

I think I know the sort of lice like insects you are refuring to. I had them in my eco earth not long ago and spoke to local reptile shop about them and they were very strong about getting rid of them asap.

I am told that they can be very bad for reptiles (more so for one's that are normaly on the floor mind) but not sure about eggs.

I personaly am using vermiculite and if I was you I would switch to that but im no expert so hopefully someone with more exsperience can advice you better.

 

[hemiram04]

As long as you keep the eggs in the same postiton as they are oriented in the peat it should be fine to transfer them to a container of either vermiculite or perlite. A good tip would be to mark the eggs with a marker so there is no question on the position of the eggs. As for the bugs go I have never seen lice like creatures in my eco earth (peat). I have seen baby crickets where adult crickets laid eggs in there then they hatched. Hope this helps.