(eggs Dying) What Am I Doing Wrong?

Ok I have kept pygmy leaf, fischers and veileds over the years, but I am new to breeding. I currently have three Veileds(one male, two female) They are all in a 3x4x6 together.......just kidding!!!!

So really, Ive have had two clutches of eggs from diff females and they both grew white furry mold within a week of incubation.

The first batch was incubated in a tupperware container, with a mix of baked earth and coconut fiber. the eggs were yellowish to start off, but i figured it was worth a shot. i burried the eggs half way, pinching the media would release a moisture onto my finger but not enough to cause a bead of water. 6days later th eggs began to grow white mold.... then days later red/black specs started to appear all over. the specs grew in size and it became apparent that they were dead. Also the egg shells did not cave in at all so i dont think anything was happening inside as far as growing. i doubt this batch was fertile.


The second batch im pretty sure was fertile, either way the color of the egg looked better right off the bat, i bake some soil at 450 for an hour and moistened it, used a tupperware container and poked holes in the top. two days later the eggs began to cave in, i though this was a good indication that thet were fertile, i noticed white mold again on one egg? i did not remove the egg, but spaced it further from the others and covered the holes and added moisture, two days later half the eggs were back to normal but there was two or three with mold now. so i uncovered a few vent holes. a day later most of the eggs were back to normal. but there was 5-6 with that
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i live in so cal, so the temp isnt much of an issue. so i was only worried about the eggs drying or molding. I thought the eggs caved when dehydrated, and they molded when there was too much moisture. does it make sense for there to be dehydrated eggs, and molded eggs? doesnt moisture cause mold?
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had the white mold. ( ive read foot powder, but i couldnt find antifungal powder only spray, will foot powder thats not antifungal work if applied to the molded eggs?) i finally got my hands on some vermiculite, wet it rang it out, and when i pressed between fingers they got moist but did not drip water
then i tranferred the eggs. im guess it was too late because when i check the container a day later all the eggs were covered in white mold.


please anyone i feel terible im pretty sure the second clutch was viable. what am i doing wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i would like information on the mold

i dont think your given them enough circulation of air and abit to much moisture , you want the moisture to be about the same as it is in the ground outside , like when you dig a hole 1.5 ft the grounds moist and not to moist , i personally own veilds and have hatched 2 batches of 40 eggs each time, wat kind of substarte are you using? i use 50/50 vermiculate and sand i find it holds moisture pretty good, i also just make the 50/50 mixture just moist enough that i have to mist the tops of the containers every 2 or 3 days to give back moisture , also wat temps are you using ?? do you have 1/8th holes in the cornes of your tupperwear containers lids?

im using vermiculite only, i poked what would equate to 1/8 holes in the corners with a needle, temp is 78-81. so i should error on the side of too dry, then slowly mist the underside of the lid untill they stop sinking and maintain their shape. That was a big question of mine, how to add moisture evenly. What about a cap full of water off to the side? thanks for yoru help

I have hatched lots of veiled eggs as well as a number of other species of chameleons and many other types of reptile eggs too.

I do them all basically the same...in shoebox sized containers that have two tiny tiny holes poked in the lid. I fill the container about half full of barely moist vermiculite (moistened with warm water). I lay the eggs in rows in the container and put the lid on. The containers need to be placed somewhere where the temperature is appropriate for what you are incubating. I incubate veiled eggs at about 78F. The moisture level of the vermiculite will need to vary with the species of eggs that you are trying to hatch. For veileds I take a fist full of it and if I can only squeeze a drop or two of water from it then it should be right. I get condensation on the sides of the container and the lid. I check the container every day or two for the first week to see how the eggs are doing and remove any obviously dead/bad eggs. I rarely have to add any moisture during the rest of the incubation...but if I do, I add it away from the eggs.

Hope you have better luck next time!

K

do you incubate in total darkness?

Thank you for the detailed instructions, Kinyonga. A few questions:
Someone gave us a reptile egg incubator. It looks like a kitchen cabinet (floor, not wall). You open the door and there are shelves inside. There is a thermometer to control temp and 2 light bulbs for heat. Below the shelves is a drawer to place a pan of water for hydration. Do you think this would work for veiled eggs? We would put them in shoebox like containers, like you said, with two tiny holes in each, and with the vermiculite moist, and place the containers on the shelves. IF we did use this set up, should we rotate the placement of the containers?

kinyonga said:

I have hatched lots of veiled eggs as well as a number of other species of chameleons and many other types of reptile eggs too.

I do them all basically the same...in shoebox sized containers that have two tiny tiny holes poked in the lid. I fill the container about half full of barely moist vermiculite (moistened with warm water). I lay the eggs in rows in the container and put the lid on. The containers need to be placed somewhere where the temperature is appropriate for what you are incubating. I incubate veiled eggs at about 78F. The moisture level of the vermiculite will need to vary with the species of eggs that you are trying to hatch. For veileds I take a fist full of it and if I can only squeeze a drop or two of water from it then it should be right. I get condensation on the sides of the container and the lid. I check the container every day or two for the first week to see how the eggs are doing and remove any obviously dead/bad eggs. I rarely have to add any moisture during the rest of the incubation...but if I do, I add it away from the eggs.

Hope you have better luck next time!

Click to expand...

chadbandman...yes, I do incubate them in total darkness.

gesang said..."Thank you for the detailed instructions, Kinyonga"...you're welcome!

You said.."Someone gave us a reptile egg incubator. It looks like a kitchen cabinet (floor, not wall). You open the door and there are shelves inside. There is a thermometer to control temp and 2 light bulbs for heat. Below the shelves is a drawer to place a pan of water for hydration. Do you think this would work for veiled eggs? We would put them in shoebox like containers, like you said, with two tiny holes in each, and with the vermiculite moist, and place the containers on the shelves. IF we did use this set up, should we rotate the placement of the containers?"...I can't tell you if it will work or not....but you said it has two light bulbs for heat....if they are going to shine on the egg containers, that means that it won't be dark inside....ant that will likely affect the hatch rate. I live in Canada so its necessary to have an incubator of sorts in order for the temperature to be kept at 78F during the winter/cool months. What I have used for years is a people's heating pad. I have made a wooden frame out of 2"x2" pieces of wood to fit around the heating pad. I put screen over this wooden frame to sit the incubation containers on. I can raise and lower the setting on the heating pad and raise the frame until I attain the temperature of 78F inside the incubation container. I have them in the basement where its dark. The temperature fluctuates somewhat during the day and night since the house temperatures fluctuate...but I think that's a good thing. I have hatched several species of chameleon eggs using this method and various geckos, water dragons, cone heads, turtles/tortoises, etc. I usually have 100% hatch rate on the fertile eggs of my veileds. The same is true with the water dragons, cone heads, turtles, and most of the geckos, etc. (There have been some species that I haven't had luck with yet....but I don't blame the set-up...I think its just that I can't get the temperatures/humidities, etc. right. They're species that others have trouble hatching or can't hatch either.)

Ive only hatched out one clutch and had problems early on but worked around it... I used vermacilite only and added enough water to it to pinch and have one drop of water to come out.... I used 2 different containers.... one of which os a plastic shoe box container that does not seal totally. therefore it gets more air than the others, once a week I go in and left the lids of the seled type for air exchange... i have a small syringe i use for water to squirt in and around the eggs, not too close though about 1 a month or if there isnt any moisture on the sides of the container....i had some that got mold on them early on and i wiped it off of them and it came back. so i moved them to the outside ring of my container and eventually died also i had my egg container in a room of 80-90 degrees but was too close to my friends smake cage lights and dried up half of my eggs, i was left with 9 of 41, 8 of 9 hatched.... good luck and have fun.

do u wash ur eggs after u dig them out? do u spray the eggs directly with water to hydrate them? i hav limited experience but ive read somewhere that waashing ur eggs cleans off some sort of acidic coat that prevents mold and such... thats my 2 cents

You don't want to spray the eggs directly too much moisture is a bad thing for mold specially, i don't and didn't spray the eggs off or clean them, i use washed play sand for my girl to dig and bury the eggs in..so i just brush off the sand and go from there, also try not to turn or roll the eggs after you have them in place in the incubation container...to do this i use a super fine felt tipped pen or marker and make little lines on the eggs, that way i know if they have been rolled or something...maybe not so much for me but i do know that mine hatched in a period of a month, if one hatched out and i didn't know and he was roaming around in there and climbing n the other eggs it could be possible to turn one and perhaps not hatch... so thats why i do it.. and I don't know if the coating on the eggs is acidic, but more like protective in a way... but i would think there is something there...

i forgot where i read it, it might have been on the forums somewhere or at this link
http://www.chameleonnews.com/year2003/mar2003/eggs/egg_incubation.html
but what it said was that as an egg exits it passes through some gland that covers the egg with the accidic coat, and if uve touched an egg after its been laid (or any time after) it feels kinda sticky (my best way of descrbing it) and what ur actually touching is that acidic membrane

if i could find it again ill post it but like i said it might have been on that link

dont ever wash your eggs , always leave them dirty , by washing them your chances of drowning the babys inside the eggs is great, and dont spray them directly either that is another good way to form mold on your eggs , it seems to me like your adding to much moisture , let the substrate be just moist, like damp to the touch but not wet and try only covering half the egg with the substrate , but its really hard to help with out being there to actually help you , so try that out