melleri hatching!

pamnsam94

Established Member
What a relief! :) They're finally hatching just 2 days short of 5 months. The clutch was laid on 2/21/13. Only 21 eggs were laid, out of which 19 looked good. Two went bad within a week. A third one went bad after 3 months. After opening up that one, I saw that there was only a small area of red. The egg was mostly yolk. The small area of vascularization let me know that at least some of the eggs were fertilized, but I was concerned about whether any of the eggs would hatch after that one went bad. I knew some melleri have been reported to hatch around 4 months and I've been watching them extra closely slightly before then. Just like my quads, they took right around 5 months. I wouldn't have wanted to wait much longer. I consider myself a pretty patient person, but I'd have to put the anticipation out of my mind for a while should I ever decide to work with species that take much longer to hatch. :D

The first two pics are of the first (and only so far) baby out. It is so hot and muggy here (feels like I'm under a hot, wet blanket) that as soon as I went outside to take pics, my camera fogged up (the reason for the blurry pics). Other eggs have shrunk and slit so hopefully, they'll be strong enough to make it out too. The third photo is of one of two eggs where the mouth is clearly visible.

Perry
 

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Congratulations! Hopefully the rest of the clutch hatch and they all do well. We need to see more CB youngsters about.

It is that time again in the UK when all the WC adults come in which would be great to stop if more people have success like you!:D
 
Ah Perry i can't believe you hatched melleri babies. You know how much I want and baby and after Rah dying I promised myself never again. Sorry but I think I hate you.:( The baby is beyond cute, congrats - I guess.:confused:
 
Anyone know of the smallest recorded clutch of melleri eggs that hatched? I knew 21 eggs was a really small clutch, but I'm curious if someone knows of a smaller clutch that hatched.

Perry
 
Congratulations!!! Melleri, and parsonii hatching the same month.. Awesome! Maybe ill finally have some bradys drop this month! :rolleyes:
 
Thanks everyone! I'm so exited to have another chance with these guys. Back in the 90s, I had my first chance with a clutch of around 70 melleri eggs, but I ran into problems raising the neonates. I believe my problems stemmed from too much D3 (not powdered supplements or from my gutload but from D3 in the commercially bred crickets). I believe the gutload that the cricket supplier used was too high in D3. Hopefully, I'll have better luck this time around.

Perry
 
Now, if I could only trade some melleri babies for one of Chuck's parsonii babies. :D I wonder how many it would take. :eek:

Perry
 
Congratulations and the best of luck raising them! The shape of their head looks funny. I have never seen a baby melleri though.
 
Oh my goodness!! Many, many congrats! I've been wanting/searching for baby melleri. If you decide to part with one, pretty please let me know. :)
 
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