Dbash44
Avid Member
Happy Friday,
I'm in need of help, suggestions, constructive criticism.
I acquired a breeding project from some friends of mine back in October. This contained a number of Ambilobe and Sambava clutches and I've since added my own clutches to it.
I've researched my issue for hours upon hours on this forum to see if I could figure out a solution on my own to no avail. My issue is the eldest clutch's eggs (from June 2019) seem to be spoiling.
I've only gotten rid of them once they've started to mold so that the other eggs don't get affected by it. This clutch started out with 20+ eggs and about 50% of these have kicked the bucket. I'm still having problems with the eggs shrinking and sinking in. From my understanding, this can happen before hatching, yet it's been over a week that some have done this and haven’t molded, pipped or hatched.
The eggs are in moist vermiculite. The sides of the containers have a generous amount of condensation and each has tiny holes for proper air exchange. The ones in question have a very minimal amount of vermiculite (about ¼ inch layer). Not sure if this is an issue and I haven’t moved them to a thicker bedding of vermiculite in fear that I’ll dislodge embryos.
I've candled all of the eggs from this clutch with an LED pen light (without moving them) and recorded that some are bright yellow with veins and others are dark orange with veins. All of them are very large (night and day in comparison to newly laid eggs). Not sure if the yellow ones are infertile or just stuck in diapause. If diapause is the case, I'm wondering why some broke it and others didn't. The eggs that are orange with veins have a dark spot on the bottoms. I'm honestly not sure what I'm looking for in these as all the older threads on the forum with candling pictures are unusable (the pictures on the threads are pixelated or have water marks). Lastly, upon candling the eggs that shrunk and dimpled, I found that those were a darker orange/brown and opaque.
My eggs started off in Exo-Terra incubators, but after both having fail on me, I decided to take matters into the DIY side of things. I know these ET incubators have a bad rep, but I used them since it was what was given to me at the time I received the eggs. It was concerning when I noticed on a cold morning that the heating element in one of them stopped working, leaving my eggs at a cold 68 degrees (unsure of the duration at this temperature, though no more than 48 hours). Not sure if this fluctuation contributes to my current issue.
My current DIY incubator is one I converted from a large wine fridge (I have a video about how I made it if anyone is interested). I'm using a temperature regulator that's set to 74 degrees (calibrated by results from 2 thermometers inside the incubator). It’s using heat tape and a computer fan as a heating element and the fridge itself as a cooling element. The temperature regulator uses the cooling element or heating element when the temperature falls or rises by half a degree. I've made sure to use plastic egg crate (the kind used for ceiling lights) as shelves so that the air circulates properly. the glass door of the incubator is covered on the inside to keep light from shining in. I have a topless tupperware of water inside for humidity as well as 6 filled water bottles to help maintain temps when I open the incubator and close it again.
Currently, I do a quick check on the clutches each night once home from the office. I only open the containers (for no more than a minute) if the condensation on the sides of the containers hinder me from seeing inside them. I can post pictures once home tonight, however, I want to make sure that this is necessary before disturbing the eggs.
Furthermore, I am confused as to why the eldest clutch is experiencing so many issues and the 200+ other eggs seem to be doing well.
If you haven't been able to tell, I'm new to egg incubation and want to make sure I'm doing everything correctly so the other clutches don' t suffer the same fate. I understand this is, in part, a waiting game and takes a lot of patience. Thank you to those of you that have read this far and are willing to help out in any way.
I'm in need of help, suggestions, constructive criticism.
I acquired a breeding project from some friends of mine back in October. This contained a number of Ambilobe and Sambava clutches and I've since added my own clutches to it.
I've researched my issue for hours upon hours on this forum to see if I could figure out a solution on my own to no avail. My issue is the eldest clutch's eggs (from June 2019) seem to be spoiling.
I've only gotten rid of them once they've started to mold so that the other eggs don't get affected by it. This clutch started out with 20+ eggs and about 50% of these have kicked the bucket. I'm still having problems with the eggs shrinking and sinking in. From my understanding, this can happen before hatching, yet it's been over a week that some have done this and haven’t molded, pipped or hatched.
The eggs are in moist vermiculite. The sides of the containers have a generous amount of condensation and each has tiny holes for proper air exchange. The ones in question have a very minimal amount of vermiculite (about ¼ inch layer). Not sure if this is an issue and I haven’t moved them to a thicker bedding of vermiculite in fear that I’ll dislodge embryos.
I've candled all of the eggs from this clutch with an LED pen light (without moving them) and recorded that some are bright yellow with veins and others are dark orange with veins. All of them are very large (night and day in comparison to newly laid eggs). Not sure if the yellow ones are infertile or just stuck in diapause. If diapause is the case, I'm wondering why some broke it and others didn't. The eggs that are orange with veins have a dark spot on the bottoms. I'm honestly not sure what I'm looking for in these as all the older threads on the forum with candling pictures are unusable (the pictures on the threads are pixelated or have water marks). Lastly, upon candling the eggs that shrunk and dimpled, I found that those were a darker orange/brown and opaque.
My eggs started off in Exo-Terra incubators, but after both having fail on me, I decided to take matters into the DIY side of things. I know these ET incubators have a bad rep, but I used them since it was what was given to me at the time I received the eggs. It was concerning when I noticed on a cold morning that the heating element in one of them stopped working, leaving my eggs at a cold 68 degrees (unsure of the duration at this temperature, though no more than 48 hours). Not sure if this fluctuation contributes to my current issue.
My current DIY incubator is one I converted from a large wine fridge (I have a video about how I made it if anyone is interested). I'm using a temperature regulator that's set to 74 degrees (calibrated by results from 2 thermometers inside the incubator). It’s using heat tape and a computer fan as a heating element and the fridge itself as a cooling element. The temperature regulator uses the cooling element or heating element when the temperature falls or rises by half a degree. I've made sure to use plastic egg crate (the kind used for ceiling lights) as shelves so that the air circulates properly. the glass door of the incubator is covered on the inside to keep light from shining in. I have a topless tupperware of water inside for humidity as well as 6 filled water bottles to help maintain temps when I open the incubator and close it again.
Currently, I do a quick check on the clutches each night once home from the office. I only open the containers (for no more than a minute) if the condensation on the sides of the containers hinder me from seeing inside them. I can post pictures once home tonight, however, I want to make sure that this is necessary before disturbing the eggs.
Furthermore, I am confused as to why the eldest clutch is experiencing so many issues and the 200+ other eggs seem to be doing well.
If you haven't been able to tell, I'm new to egg incubation and want to make sure I'm doing everything correctly so the other clutches don' t suffer the same fate. I understand this is, in part, a waiting game and takes a lot of patience. Thank you to those of you that have read this far and are willing to help out in any way.
