What temp to incubate veiled eggs ???

[gemmatony10]

So confused on this one as there is so much information that differs greatly.....also is it best to have the heat source coming from the top or bottom....thanks in advance

 

[kinyonga]

I incubate them around 74F and the heat comes from the bottom. I can't say if heat coming from the top is good or bad since I've never tried it.

 

[jdog1027]

You're right- there are alot of conflicting opinions on this subject-but there are many different approaches that have all been met with success. Every time I put my 2 cents in on this subject, the thread seems to die. I don't know why this seems to happen- I can only 'speculate'. Lots of people use lots of different approaches. You can't say one is wrong or right. All I can say is personally I have always put the eggs into an incubator at about 76-78F for the first 6 weeks of development. I used a simple incubator that was built for birds that I tweaked to accomodate reptiles. After 6 weeks, I would remove them from the incubator and place then into a closet that would remain in the low 70sF. I would let them stay at these temperatures for roughly 4 months. At the last 2-2 and a half months of development, I would once again place them back into the incubator at 78F and slowly raise it every 2 weeks until it tops out at 80F. At this final 2 months I also try to give a very gentle misting about once a week. I was given these instructions from a breeder that would attend the Dixie reptile show back in the 90s. I have hatched 100s of Veileds and this method has generally always worked for me. I can say that I have never had a 100% hatch rate, but I generally had good luck.

Edit; I would think that placing the heat lower would make more sense, seeing how warm air typically rises. Keeping it higher might result in a cooler area at the bottom. But who knows, this might work.