OnTheGround
Member
Alright, I'm new here so please pardon me if I'm rehashing anything already covered multiple times, I did a search and found one thread which didn't have a lot of information. This is going to be a little long
So, the background is that a friend of mine moved in with me a few months back and brought his three bearded dragons (One male and two females) he was hoping to mate. During his two months with me he was unable to get any of them to mate, and after spending two months searching for jobs he finally got one in another city about 150 miles away. He was able to arrange himself lodging within his budget, but the landlord would not permit the dragons thus they have somehow ended up becoming long term residents at my place (much to my annoyance). I was not planning on letting them mate in my care.
A few weeks after he moved out, knowing they hadn't displayed any interest in mating, I let all three lizards run free through the house for a few minutes while I cleaned the cages. As I was cleaning I heard a comotion, got up, looked around the corner, and found the male copulating with one of the females. I did not want them to mate, but found myself in a situation where the only choice I saw was to let it happen or risk hurting them when I pried them apart. I told my friend what happened and that I wanted to discard the eggs but he won't permit it, and paid me to purchase a Hovabator for them.
As far as I've read the pregnancy(?) was pretty much textbook. After about a week she started eating like crazy, then after another two weeks or so she stopped eating (almost overnight) and became very restless, trying to get out of her cage, then back in, then out. I put together a lay box with materials I had lying around, potting soil and a clear plastic bin, and put her in it every day before I left for work at 1pm (I work a 2p-10p shift). Every time I put her in it she just tried to get out, so I finally bought a solid-sided bin, transfered the potting soil into it, and dampened it again. Next day, two days ago, around 11am I put her into it for the first time and she immediately began digging all the way to the bottom, half an hour later she had reached the bottom and stopped digging altogether, so I checked the bin and sure enough she had backed into the hole and was wiggling her hips. I left her alone and came back an hour later around 12:40; she had 12 large, white eggs out and was still wiggling, it was too late to lay off sick so I left her to her own devices and went to work. As information, my understanding is this is the first clutch she has ever produced.
That night when I got home around 10:30 I found her passed out in the corner of the bin looking mighty skinny. There was no sign of the hole; the ground was completely flat. She was so tired, when I picked her up she hung in my hand like a rag doll. I gave her a bath during which she drank a LOT, fed her two Super Worms (her favorite) and tucked her into her cage, then went to work recovering the eggs. About halfway down I found the first egg, a very healthy looking one, but it was brown. I put it into the Vermiculite and proceeded to dig almost to the bottom. I finally found the rest there. As I extracted them they were all brown, and about half were caved in. Altogether I found fourteen eggs, six were obviously bad (but I've put them together into one tub to see what happens), and eight appeared to be healthy, but brown and slightly soft.
Here comes my major mistakes; First, I did not know to keep them in the same orientation, and I wasn't aware they had to be placed in a specific orientation in the Vermiculite. After I'd done my regular household things I went online, played around on Facebook for a bit, then began looking up egg care and discovered my mistake. At 2AM-ish, 2-3 hours after I'd initially began setting them in the vermiculite I found myself madly trying to find out which side was supposed to be up and reorienting them. I think I managed to find it for most of them, but I'm concerned what damage I may have done in those 2-3 hours they were improperly oriented.
Now second, when I first got the incubator I plugged it in for a few hours to set the temperature, then unplugged it and put it away until it was needed. The day she laid I had not been prepared for the eggs to come out, I was expecting her to dig for a few days thus I was planning on taking her out before I went to work and setting up the incubator when I got home if she had displayed an interest so I could make any adjustments necessary. When she began laying I quickly set it up and plugged it back in. That night when I got home to recover the eggs the humidity was at a perfect 85%, but the temperature was 92 degrees! I quickly turned the thermostat down and opened the lid to cool it down before I put the eggs in. I managed to get it down to 80 degrees, but I've had a very hard time for the last two days getting it higher, I finally think I finally got it up to around 82-83 today (though I have not yet purchased a digital thermometer, that will come with funds, I'm using three analog ones including the one which came with the Hovabator and ones my friend brought with the dragons). Presently the humidity is around 75% and temperature is around 82-83 degrees depending on the thermometer you look at.
Here goes. First off, the eggs are brown and dirty, I'm hoping that this is just staining from the potting soil, and not a sign that they are not viable. They are also long, I've seen pictures which show long eggs hatching, but I've also read that this is a sign of infertility. Now, only two days in, I noticed some of the eggs (particularly the ones in the "non-viable" tub) seemed to be sweating. Upon taking them out I realized that this is not water, but a white film. I'm wondering if this white film is mold. Additionally, almost immediately upon putting them in I began noticing a "musty" smell coming from the incubator. I'm assuming that this is coming from the "collapsed" eggs and am considering getting rid of the worst of them, but I want to wait for them to obviously die before I give up on them altogether. Only one of the eggs in that bin is not "sweating" and it appears to be almost healthy, but has a very loose shell. I did discard one egg which was pretty much pancake flat.
So, finally, the questions.
*When she laid the eggs they appeared to be white, but had turned a dirty brown by the time I recovered them. They were in the potting soil for 10-12 hours before I recovered them, could the wet soil have stained them? Or is it likely that they are all bad?
*Could 10-12 hours in the potting soil have killed them, especially since she laid them against the bottom corner of the lay box, where they'd be more suceptible to the cooler temperatures of my house?
*What is the white film? One person suggested in another thread that this meant the eggs were struggling to survive, however if the nonviable eggs also have it then I'm not hopeful that this is the case.
*I added water to the bottom this morning, but cannot get the humidity above 75%. Is 75% ok, or should I try harder?
*I candled the eggs today, about 48 hours after they were laid, and all were yellow with one possible exception. Has it been long enough that I can consider them dead, or how long until I should try candling again before writing them off?
Thanks for reading this, sorry I had to give my life's story but I wanted to let you know just how off-guard this has caught me, and how deeply I am in over my head.
(Is there a way to attach images, if not, what to other members do so I can share some pictures of the egg laying and the eggs themselves as they are now?)
So, the background is that a friend of mine moved in with me a few months back and brought his three bearded dragons (One male and two females) he was hoping to mate. During his two months with me he was unable to get any of them to mate, and after spending two months searching for jobs he finally got one in another city about 150 miles away. He was able to arrange himself lodging within his budget, but the landlord would not permit the dragons thus they have somehow ended up becoming long term residents at my place (much to my annoyance). I was not planning on letting them mate in my care.
A few weeks after he moved out, knowing they hadn't displayed any interest in mating, I let all three lizards run free through the house for a few minutes while I cleaned the cages. As I was cleaning I heard a comotion, got up, looked around the corner, and found the male copulating with one of the females. I did not want them to mate, but found myself in a situation where the only choice I saw was to let it happen or risk hurting them when I pried them apart. I told my friend what happened and that I wanted to discard the eggs but he won't permit it, and paid me to purchase a Hovabator for them.
As far as I've read the pregnancy(?) was pretty much textbook. After about a week she started eating like crazy, then after another two weeks or so she stopped eating (almost overnight) and became very restless, trying to get out of her cage, then back in, then out. I put together a lay box with materials I had lying around, potting soil and a clear plastic bin, and put her in it every day before I left for work at 1pm (I work a 2p-10p shift). Every time I put her in it she just tried to get out, so I finally bought a solid-sided bin, transfered the potting soil into it, and dampened it again. Next day, two days ago, around 11am I put her into it for the first time and she immediately began digging all the way to the bottom, half an hour later she had reached the bottom and stopped digging altogether, so I checked the bin and sure enough she had backed into the hole and was wiggling her hips. I left her alone and came back an hour later around 12:40; she had 12 large, white eggs out and was still wiggling, it was too late to lay off sick so I left her to her own devices and went to work. As information, my understanding is this is the first clutch she has ever produced.
That night when I got home around 10:30 I found her passed out in the corner of the bin looking mighty skinny. There was no sign of the hole; the ground was completely flat. She was so tired, when I picked her up she hung in my hand like a rag doll. I gave her a bath during which she drank a LOT, fed her two Super Worms (her favorite) and tucked her into her cage, then went to work recovering the eggs. About halfway down I found the first egg, a very healthy looking one, but it was brown. I put it into the Vermiculite and proceeded to dig almost to the bottom. I finally found the rest there. As I extracted them they were all brown, and about half were caved in. Altogether I found fourteen eggs, six were obviously bad (but I've put them together into one tub to see what happens), and eight appeared to be healthy, but brown and slightly soft.
Here comes my major mistakes; First, I did not know to keep them in the same orientation, and I wasn't aware they had to be placed in a specific orientation in the Vermiculite. After I'd done my regular household things I went online, played around on Facebook for a bit, then began looking up egg care and discovered my mistake. At 2AM-ish, 2-3 hours after I'd initially began setting them in the vermiculite I found myself madly trying to find out which side was supposed to be up and reorienting them. I think I managed to find it for most of them, but I'm concerned what damage I may have done in those 2-3 hours they were improperly oriented.
Now second, when I first got the incubator I plugged it in for a few hours to set the temperature, then unplugged it and put it away until it was needed. The day she laid I had not been prepared for the eggs to come out, I was expecting her to dig for a few days thus I was planning on taking her out before I went to work and setting up the incubator when I got home if she had displayed an interest so I could make any adjustments necessary. When she began laying I quickly set it up and plugged it back in. That night when I got home to recover the eggs the humidity was at a perfect 85%, but the temperature was 92 degrees! I quickly turned the thermostat down and opened the lid to cool it down before I put the eggs in. I managed to get it down to 80 degrees, but I've had a very hard time for the last two days getting it higher, I finally think I finally got it up to around 82-83 today (though I have not yet purchased a digital thermometer, that will come with funds, I'm using three analog ones including the one which came with the Hovabator and ones my friend brought with the dragons). Presently the humidity is around 75% and temperature is around 82-83 degrees depending on the thermometer you look at.
Here goes. First off, the eggs are brown and dirty, I'm hoping that this is just staining from the potting soil, and not a sign that they are not viable. They are also long, I've seen pictures which show long eggs hatching, but I've also read that this is a sign of infertility. Now, only two days in, I noticed some of the eggs (particularly the ones in the "non-viable" tub) seemed to be sweating. Upon taking them out I realized that this is not water, but a white film. I'm wondering if this white film is mold. Additionally, almost immediately upon putting them in I began noticing a "musty" smell coming from the incubator. I'm assuming that this is coming from the "collapsed" eggs and am considering getting rid of the worst of them, but I want to wait for them to obviously die before I give up on them altogether. Only one of the eggs in that bin is not "sweating" and it appears to be almost healthy, but has a very loose shell. I did discard one egg which was pretty much pancake flat.
So, finally, the questions.
*When she laid the eggs they appeared to be white, but had turned a dirty brown by the time I recovered them. They were in the potting soil for 10-12 hours before I recovered them, could the wet soil have stained them? Or is it likely that they are all bad?
*Could 10-12 hours in the potting soil have killed them, especially since she laid them against the bottom corner of the lay box, where they'd be more suceptible to the cooler temperatures of my house?
*What is the white film? One person suggested in another thread that this meant the eggs were struggling to survive, however if the nonviable eggs also have it then I'm not hopeful that this is the case.
*I added water to the bottom this morning, but cannot get the humidity above 75%. Is 75% ok, or should I try harder?
*I candled the eggs today, about 48 hours after they were laid, and all were yellow with one possible exception. Has it been long enough that I can consider them dead, or how long until I should try candling again before writing them off?
Thanks for reading this, sorry I had to give my life's story but I wanted to let you know just how off-guard this has caught me, and how deeply I am in over my head.
(Is there a way to attach images, if not, what to other members do so I can share some pictures of the egg laying and the eggs themselves as they are now?)
