deformed babies

[Boba29]

ok so I have had a total of 6 fertile clutches from my pair of beardies. my first fertile clutch from her was last year and they had veins and looked good but died after about a month, my second and third fertile clutches were this year which also died after some weeks and had veins. my fourth fertile clutch is at 87 days right now and originally had about twenty something eggs. some of the eggs were duds and I had about ten that grew and had visible moving fetuses. when these eggs were about 9 weeks old, a couple turned gooey and yellow so I cut them open to find dead fetuses that seemed fully formed but were pretty much bent in half with all of their organs out. the only thing I have found online that could have caused this kind of deformity would be inbreeding. there is no way my pair is related so this makes no sense. So at 85 days, with only four eggs left, one started to sweat. So I was pretty happy to see that, but by day 87 it still hadn't hatched and now it was sunken in. and the egg had a pointy thing sticking out on the side of the egg that was maybe the egg tooth? well anyway I figured it was dead because my eggs always die so I cut it open and found a SEVERELY deformed baby. it was totally bent in half with all its organs out and its brain was on the outside. its mouth was a circle, yes just an open circle. other than that it had a tail and toes. i can post a pic if that would help but its really sad and i don't want anyone to have to see that. Do you think it tried to pip the egg but couldn't because its mouth was so severely deformed? well the incubator did spike to 88 degrees a couple of times during the incubation and I know that can cause deformities like tail kinks, but something this awful? and btw i have two other clutches that are younger than this one so I don't know if they will be deformed too? and another one of the 87 day old eggs is sinking in now i wonder if that one will be deformed too please if anyone has any idea of what the hell i am doing wrong here I have been trying to get babies for almost five years and Im so frustrated and sad So please if anyone knows anything it would be greatly appreciated

 

[AHBD]

I'm sorry to hear that,.....must be heart breaking for you. Can you post pics of the incubator set up , close ups of the remaining eggs and one of the deformed baby ?

What morphs are these beardies, and where did you get them ? If you would rather p.m the origin of your breeders that would be fine.

I've never seen nor heard of such deformities,, esp. so consistently and I can't imagine what's causing such extreme cases. It may be that what you think are organs is just a very large egg sac that was not absorbed, but something drastic would be happening to cause even that situation. Inbreeding is bad, but I can remember years ago before all the specialty morphs [ trans, hypo-trans, etc.] that some pet stores and newbie breeders would breed [ accidentally or purposely ] normal scaled , even high color brother + sister dragons with no real ill effects, at least not at that time. But just a few years ago you couldn't breed trans to trans even if they were unrelated without deformities in the great majority of them.

 

[Boba29]

Alright I will get pics of everything in a little bit I got my pair from a local pet store a couple years ago but they were adults when I got them and I got them at separate times so they aren't related and they are not morphs

 

[Boba29]

Ok this is the baby that was supposed to hatch and btw when I candled its egg I could see a heart beating so that's why I think the organs are outside

And it's just these three left that are in this clutch the rest are younger

And this is the egg that is sinking in now:

And this is my whole incubator and do you think the rest of my eggs will be deformed too? Only one of the younger clutches was there for the temperature spikes so maybe one will be spared?

 

[AHBD]

Poor little guy....I don't know what would cause that. Temp. spikes seem to be the only factor that could have such an effect. Hopefully the last clutches will be O.K

Is that plain vermiculite you use, nothing added ?

 

[Boba29]

yes it is just vermiculite and do you really think just a spike in temperature could cause such a thing?

 

[AHBD]

I don't think so but I don't know what the cause could be.

 

[Boba29]

ok well thank you for your input

 

[Tigresssnow]

I can offer some insight, I know with leopard geckos when the temperature spikes it can cause minor to major deformities or death in the otherwise healthy egg. I'm not sure if this helps as were talking about beardies bit I figured id offer my knowledge.

 

[Boba29]

well thank you I have no idea what caused that but all those eggs died and another clutch that was incubating at the same time with the temp spikes just hatched and are fine so that clutch must have been defective or something

 

[Tigresssnow]

Well I'm glad they are hatching and are healthy. That is very possible that the clutch was bad. Best of luck