Miraclegro Perlite Incubation Results.

jrh3

Established Member
Ok About 7 or 8 months ago, i asked the question if Milaclegro perlite would be ok for incubation material. No one could give me a positive yes i have tried it and no it wont work.....so someone recommended, hey just try it, if it doesnt work your only out 1 clutch..... well here are the results.

After one month all seem perfect.

I had a few duds after the 4th month. All others look great.

This point i have 36 seems to be fertile eggs. There was no mold or anything. They never grew though.

Now for the question of the day, All eggs started drying up at the last month. I decided to cut a few and come to find out that none of the eggs were developed. Is this because my veiled layed an infertile clutch or because the nitrogen levels were too high from the miraclegro? This was her first clutch sooo.....Now thinking back i should have seperated half the clutch to know for sure. I will repeat this in the future after a little research on nitrogen level in soil. As of now i can't announce miraclegro being safe for incubation, but with that said i doubt it killed my eggs, next time there will be weekly results, more controlled temps, ect.
 
Miraclegro is a chemical fertilizer-if your eggs lasted until month 4 without molding over I assume that the chemicals eventually killed your developing embryos. Why use a dangerous chemical fertilizer in a moist environment with permeable eggs?
 
Miraclegro is a chemical fertilizer-if your eggs lasted until month 4 without molding over I assume that the chemicals eventually killed your developing embryos. Why use a dangerous chemical fertilizer in a moist environment with permeable eggs?

Actually the miraclegro brand perlite is not a fertileizer it has nitrogen in it. And they lasted 7 months before they started to go bad, so I dont believe that the miracle grow killed them. But you may be right that might have killed them but what im looking for is proof and not just dont use it because it MIGHT not work.
 
The only Miraclegro perlite I see has Miraclegro fertilizer added to it, and that has the chemcials in it. Does you bag not say Miraclegro fertilizer added in?
 
Hmmmmm, I see some bags that say it is added in and some bags that don't say it. Doing some research I landed on a "pot" growers forum-apparently they do not like the high nitrates. :p
 
yeah i saw 2 different bags also. my main goal was to determine if it was safe for incubation, im leaning towards no because of the results but it was her first clutch, but then agian her siblings hatched our clutches just fine. back when i decided to do this there was discussions about if it is ok or not and no one had a direct proven yes or no.... so i decided to prove it.:D
 
I've found anything that says "Miracle-Gro" is pretty damn far from organic. So ya. No big surprise that it killed them.
 
I've found anything that says "Miracle-Gro" is pretty damn far from organic. So ya. No big surprise that it killed them.

Its not positive that it killed them, dont make assumptions, im looking for cold hard facts.
 
Interesting trial study. I don't have the knowledge base on this issue to be of much use. But for my own interests sake... Are you going to try it again?
Dr Ren (Vet)
 
Interesting trial study. I don't have the knowledge base on this issue to be of much use. But for my own interests sake... Are you going to try it again?
Dr Ren (Vet)

Yes, this time will be more of a scientific study instead of a trial and era.
 
I guess I have to ask what is the purpose of the experiment? There are plenty of other types of incubation media available. What does it matter if it is safe or not? Are you trying to see if MiracleGro will create super-sized babies or what?
 
No, just to see if your local lowes or walmart can provide incubation material. And because no one else can prove if it works or not. Super sized babies would be unreal because that miracle grow is for plants.
 
But if you are serious enough about breeding, you will make sure you have the right incubation material. I am not a big fan of Perlite at any rate. I purchased vermiculite free of any fertilizer from both WalMart and Lowes and it produced many, many babies just fine. Plus, if one cannot purchase the correct stuff locally, ordering online is simple.
 
But if you are serious enough about breeding, you will make sure you have the right incubation material. I am not a big fan of Perlite at any rate. I purchased vermiculite free of any fertilizer from both WalMart and Lowes and it produced many, many babies just fine. Plus, if one cannot purchase the correct stuff locally, ordering online is simple.

see your asking the right questions now, How do you know miraclegro perlite is Not the right material? This is why i tried it to prove if it is or isn't. Because no one knows they just assumed it was bad.
 
If it has added fertilizers it IS bad. Your research should not include incubating babies, but comparing the compostion of normal perlite vs. MiracleGro perlite. When incubating reptile eggs you want something as "sterile" as possible since the eggs are permeable. Vermiculite and Perlite are naturally occurring siliceous rock.
Anyways-Google provides many, many examples of people already trying it. And examples of people like me sayinig why try it. :)
 
If it has added fertilizers it IS bad. Your research should not include incubating babies, but comparing the compostion of normal perlite vs. MiracleGro perlite. When incubating reptile eggs you want something as "sterile" as possible since the eggs are permeable. Vermiculite and Perlite are naturally occurring siliceous rock.
Anyways-Google provides many, many examples of people already trying it. And examples of people like me sayinig why try it. :)

LOL, yeah now i can say next time someone asks if it will work and tell them none of my eggs hatched, instead of saying well google and others say its bad but they dont have proof, but now i guess I do.:cool:
 
Another thing from Google, reptile breeders, and the pot growers-you can apparently rinse the perlite and it gets rid of whatever MiracleGro adds.
 
Thanks, I used hatchrite on other clutchs, and im not much a fan of perlite anymore either, it seems to work great for shortterm eggs but with chameleons it wants to dry out.
 
Thanks, I used hatchrite on other clutchs, and im not much a fan of perlite anymore either, it seems to work great for shortterm eggs but with chameleons it wants to dry out.

Really? Are your lids tight? I have incubated for 9 months and have never had to add water.
 
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