TK finally laid her eggs

[hart8000]

I was getting worried for her cause she hadn't done it and it has been about 36 days. So I took her out of the cage and put her in a 32 trash can with play sand and like a text book, she dug and deposited last night within 2.5 hours of putting her in there. I think it took her most of the night to finish and then cover them up cause she was still cruising around the covered eggs touching it up. I put her back in her cage and she drank a bunch and looks really good. We are happy for her.

I have to work today so I will excavate tonight and see how many she left us.

 

[hart8000]

She left us 43 real good looking, solid white, no dented eggs.

This is my first time and we put the eggs into a cooler with vermiculite that is just moist enough to squeeze a couple drops of water out of it. What is the purpose of keeping the eggs separated? I mean, we did that but I am wondering how critical it is to have the spacing be 1" or so. Right now I have them 1/2 inch apart. I wanna know if that will be ok, or do I need to find a bigger cooler.

 

[fluxlizard]

oops (double post don't know how to delete)

 

[fluxlizard]

I don't know the current thinking on veileds, but the thinking used to be that you space them apart to avoid simultaneous hatching. The thinking was that the eggs communicated chemically when they started hatching and all would hatch together. Many would hatch out a little sooner in development than others and would hatch kind of weak. When kept separated a bit, they hatch out a few at a time over several days, giving the later hatchers more time to develop.

 

[hart8000]

I see. Is half inch sufficient or should I move them to a new container with more room?

 

[hart8000]

Yay for her huh.

 

[kinyonga]

Half an inch should be okay too. The idea is to have them hatch more individually so that each one will be the best it can be, so to speak. I have always separated them by about 1" and I have had close to 100% hatch rate and a good survival rate too...so I have never changed it.

 

[hart8000]

Ok, thank you much kin