Miraclegro Perlite Incubation Results.

[jrh3]

The hatchrite was better than plain perlite, but when i used the closet method the perlite seemed too dry or at least to the touch it did.

 

[reptileman]

just to let you know I think the reason your eggs did not make it is the perlite ran out of moisture, I used to use miracle gro perlite as my incubation medium for leopard geckos but they incubation time is way less than chameleons, if your going to use perlite again weigh it with the eggs when you mix it with water and every month weigh it again if the weight decreases it means you need to add water or the eggs will dehydrate and shrivel up and die

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Regardless of whether or not it's worth your time to try it, you can't do a fair comparison to other methods unless you have controls. Next time split the same clutch into multiple groups with both old and new methods. I'd say at least 2 groups for whatever medium you're trying. Then you'll know which ones work better and which ones don't! If you use different clutches to compare then you won't know that the fertility or conditions are the same. Just fwiw.

Although I have to agree that the idea of chemicals, or even just excess nitrogen in the medium probably isn't the best idea since the eggs are actually very permeable and you don't know what effect they can have on developing embryos. But I myself haven't hatched any babies (yet) so it's just theory on my part...

 

[jrh3]

Regardless of whether or not it's worth your time to try it, you can't do a fair comparison to other methods unless you have controls. Next time split the same clutch into multiple groups with both old and new methods. I'd say at least 2 groups for whatever medium you're trying. Then you'll know which ones work better and which ones don't! If you use different clutches to compare then you won't know that the fertility or conditions are the same. Just fwiw.

Although I have to agree that the idea of chemicals, or even just excess nitrogen in the medium probably isn't the best idea since the eggs are actually very permeable and you don't know what effect they can have on developing embryos. But I myself haven't hatched any babies (yet) so it's just theory on my part...

Exactly, i will have control if i decide to do it agian. this was just trial and error, the first time.

 

[fluxlizard]

I hatched bearded dragon eggs 2 summers ago that were set in miracle grow perlite.

I had an experience with those- when I discovered there was fertilizer in the product, I had several clutches of eggs at varying incubation lengths already set in it.

The first clutch or two (sorry I can't remember for sure- I do remember for sure the first clutch, maybe the second) went nearly to term on the product- maybe even all the way to hatch. I reset all the others as soon as I discovered what I had done, but the first clutch or two were so close to hatch I don't remember if I reset or let them sit. Either way they were nearly at hatching.

All were males! I don't know what the odds of that are, but in my experience I would say almost nil- 99.99% chance it was the miracle grow.

Every last one of 20 something dragons in that first clutch were male. I probably would have never noticed, except I was playing around with feeding that summer and feeding roaches 3x per day to monitor growth rates (worked great- 100 dragons grew very rapidly and for the first time ever very uniformly- all dragons in a given clutch were nearly the same size no fast or slow growers- never did that before- but I went through 3/4 of a million roaches that summer feeding them all and nearly decimated my colonies before I realized I was feeding more than I could recover from- my colonies are only now nearly recovered). Because I was keeping them all back, I was aware of their sex at the end of the experiment.

So before you decide it's safe or unsafe, check those genders on your offspring.

I wonder what the fertility of those miracle grow males is? That I don't know and wonder about it sometimes...

 

[fluxlizard]

re- perlite drying out-

Just use good containers that seal tight.

That is what I do. If they are sealed the water has no place to go and has to stay in there.

I prefer vermiculite nowadays though- no hassle of weighing the medium to get the water content right. I just grab and squeeze the water out of the vermiculite.

Also, vermiculite I have found can be purchased in huge bags for very little money at the local nursery. The perlite available is always name brand in smaller bags and several times more expensive.

 

[jrh3]

yeah we have vermiculite at work in 20lb. bags but it is the fine grain.

 

[fluxlizard]

That's probably the stuff I use. Seems to work fine for me- I've never been able to locate the course grain.

 

[Mimm]

I have been told by a reliable breeder never to use anything with pesticides or fertilizer from outside ( I live in a rural farming area) or even branches because they may have been subjected to spray.