panther eggs advise

bonitadiva

New Member
Hi, I need some advise on eggs. My female laid about 25 this last weekend and unfortunately, she chose the one day that I was gone overnite to lay them. She laid them in a bucket of moist play sand and they looked nice and hard when i uncovered them. I removed most to a plastic tupperware with vermiculite, but about 20 of them were all bunched up and stuck together. I did not try and separate them, but stuck them in the vermiculite in exactly the same position i found them. Is this a good idea? Should i try and separate them or is it too late (it is now Tuesday). I moved them Sunday nite. I buried all eggs about an inch and a half into the vermiculite (moist but not soggy <2 drip rule). Is this correct or should i leave them exposed? How often do I moisten the vermiculite? Can i still move them to an incubator if I so chose ( it might be too cold this winter to keep conditions perfect)? This is my first time at being a panther parental unit so any advise would be awesome thanks!!
 
It is still safe to move them as they havent begun development yet. Personally I'd put them in a vermiculite filled container with air holes. I use the clump of vermiculite squeezed 1 drip of water rule. I would place the eggs approx 1" apart and leave 1/2 the egg exposed and 1/2 in vermiculite. If you are worried about temps go ahead and get an incubator. But it you have a closet that is in an interior portion of the home that would be an option.
 
Thanks for the advise! How about the clump of eggs that are stuck together? What would you advise with those? I'm sure that in nature they probably develop just fine like that, but since I've moved them, I'm unsure as to what the best policy is.
 
They shouldn't be hard....and normally they wouldn't be stuck together. Trying to separate them might break them. They might not be any good at this point...but I would incubate them for a while until you are sure.
 
Well, maybe I should rephrase that...they are turgid, but soft. In other words, well hydrated at this point and I actually just went in and fiddled with them in response to a prior thread to try and keep them part in and part out of the vermiculite. When I dug them up, they came apart and I separated them 1 inch apart in the substrate. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens. The first time is always when the hardest lessons are learned. Thanks for the advise.
 
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