Do Veins appear in Eggs immediately?

[discojan]

So, I'm doubting that we've got fertile eggs, but still holding out a tiny bit of hope, since so many of them look much better this time than the last 2. I candled them, but so far, nothing but yellow, Kind of like this....

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/lizards/291419-how-candle-eggs.html

Our girl just laid them on Sun. If they were going to show veins would they do it from the start?
They are her third clutch. She was last housed with a male in Aug, though no one saw them mate, it's possible they might have. Many thanks, Jan


Our poor girl, 24, 26, 28, eggs since October--all that work.

 

[Frogsong]

Jan, I'm no expert, but I just hatched my first Bearded Dragon eggs and this is what I can tell you from my experience.

They don't always show veins at first. Sometimes it takes a few days. If they are fertile, you should be able to see a faint circle or ring in the eggs on the top. The top being whichever side was on top when she laid them. Make sure you don't rotate them from their original position.

My eggs looked yellow for about the first week and I was worried too. It turns out that they don't really get that pinkish look until the blood vessels start growing. At least, mine didn't.

I'd give them another week or so and candle them again. By then, you should be able to see something.

One thing I discovered is that reading all of the information online and listening to everyone's opinions, is helpful to a point, but can also be confusing and, sometimes, inaccurate.

Good luck with your eggs.

 

[discojan]

Thanks Frogsong for your advice. How did you incubate them? Right now, I've got them in potting soil on top of a heating pad, but if they turn out to be fertile , then we'll have to get something more reliable. How long did it take yours to hatch?

I appreciate your advice... Best, Jan

 

[Frogsong]

Thanks Frogsong for your advice. How did you incubate them? Right now, I've got them in potting soil on top of a heating pad, but if they turn out to be fertile , then we'll have to get something more reliable. How long did it take yours to hatch?

I appreciate your advice... Best, Jan

Jan, I just used my cheap old Little Giant chicken egg incubator. I think they sell for around $49.00 You don't need to use anything fancy or expensive. I hatched 17 out of 18 from her first clutch and 20 out of 20 from her second clutch. So it works fine.

They need high humidity so make sure they are getting that. I recommend putting them on vermiculite rather than potting soil though. Vermiculite has a natural resistance to mold.

Mine started hatching at about 75 days.

 

[discojan]

If they end up growing veins, I will buy a chicken egg incubator at the local store. For now, I've got them in a sweater box on top of a heating pad. The potting soil is quite moist. I'm not sure where to get vermulicite. They looked at me like I was crazy when I tried to pick it up at Lowe's. We're getting an ice storm here in KY so it will probably be a day or so before I can head out.

Thanks for offering your feedback. Our girl's clutches were much larger--24, 26, 28. What temperature did you keep the eggs at?

Stay warm,
Jan

 

[jharris08]

it usually takes a few days before the embryo "sets" and veins will start branching out...if your eggs are fertile you should see a small pinkish oval on one side of the eggs shell even right when they are laid....you want to place the eggs in the incubator with that pinkish ring facing up.
if they are fertile then i would go ahead and get an incubator asap for the next batch of eggs....you may lose some or most of these eggs since they arent being regulated in an incubator from the start, but at least you will be prepared for next clutch...
also is this the first time this female has laid? usually first time females or first clutches of the season do not turn out as well as the following clutches.

 

[Frogsong]

also is this the first time this female has laid? usually first time females or first clutches of the season do not turn out as well as the following clutches.

I don't recommend telling people this. My female was young, and it was her first time. I was told this same thing, so I set all three of her first clutches thinking I'd be lucky to get a few babies.

The first clutch, 18 eggs. 17, out of those 18 hatched. One died during the hatch leaving me with 16. A week later, second clutch starts hatching. 20 eggs in the second clutch, and all 20 hatched. I am up to 36 babies. Already way more than I bargained for. Third clutch, 16 eggs, should be hatching any day now, and they are all looking good. If not for the fact that I know that they have live, fully developed babies in them already, I'd freeze them now. But I can't do it.

Would I have hatched clutch 2 and 3 if I hadn't been told that my first clutches chances were slim to none, by just about everyone I talked to and every website I've read, and the second and third clutches success rate weren't much better? Absolutely not!

Now I have 36 babies to find homes for, and another 16 on the way. Thankfully, I have 3 nice colonies of dubia roaches to supply their food needs so I am not having to spend a ton of money on crickets. But I am overwhelmed with their care right now.

So, please, please, please, everyone... stop telling people that.

 

[discojan]

Dear Frogsong and Jharris08,

Thanks for your responses. Our girl has laid 4 clutches total. The first clutch was in May before we owned her, the second clutch was no good, because I didn't know what I was doing and took the lay-box out at night (bad lizard mommy) and woke up to find her laying right on the tile, poor girl. We froze and discarded the second clutch after a week because they were still yellow with no blood vessels. We're still new to the whole process though, and the third clutch has about 10 eggs (out of 28) that look really good (but no rosy/blood vessels yet). We didn't incubate them well the first few days--so they stayed the same temp as the house, around 70, now they're up to 81. We'll give it a week and then see. If they are good, we may try to hatch them, but we'll have to think long and hard. I'm not sure what we'd do with 30 lizards (we have 2 already!). All that potential feeding, basking, pooping, and scrambling for human slave attention is a bit intimidating. Meanwhile, my colleagues are saying they could be persuaded to come over to the dragon side if the eggs do hatch. I'm not super confident that they are even fertile, so the universe will probably make the decision for us in the end.

Frogsong, where are you? If you're anywhere near KY perhaps we can help you find homes. Good luck with that!

Best wishes, Jan

 

[Frogsong]

Thanks Jan,

I'm way over here in California.

Are you sure your female has been bred? They can lay eggs even without breeding, and of course, those would be infertile.

I forgot to answer your question about what temp I kept my eggs at. I kept them between 83 and 85 degrees.

Also, when she laid her 3rd clutch I wasn't going to incubate them, so I didn't get in any hurry to dig them up out of the lay bin. They sat in there for 3 days at about 65 degrees and then I decided to go ahead and incubate them.... LOL. Yes, I'm an *****. I was still worried I wouldn't get any babies.

Anyway, those eggs are plenty fertile and I can see babies in them, so the 3 days of non-incubation didn't hurt them. But, they probably didn't start developing until I put them in the incubator. So I'm not sure how your eggs will do with what you are doing right now.

Good luck though.

 

[discojan]

Dear Frogsong,

We're not sure if there was successful breeding or not. She was housed with a male for several months, and she laid her first clutch last May, but it was small --only 14 eggs. No one directly witnessed "relations," but when we adopted her, she had some damage on her neck that looked like it was from Spike (the male lizard she cohabitated with) treating her kind of rough (or biting to engage in relations?). Since we've had her she's laid progressively larger clutches--perhaps because she is better nourished under our care? Even if they did have successful relations, it's unclear whether or not she would /could retain sperm that long. I can't really see anything except yellow when I candle, so I'll give it a week and see. Now they're up to about 78-81 degrees, but they may be totally infertile afterall. Good luck with all those babies. I hope you find excellent homes for them.

I'll keep you posted on egg progress. Best wishes, Jan

 

[Frogsong]

Hi Jan,

From everything I have read, a female only retains sperm for about 3 clutches. After that, they are probably infertile. As long as it's been, if she hasn't been with another male since you got her, then I would say that her eggs are most likely infertile. Sorry.

 

[discojan]

Ah well, that might be for the best in the end. I'm holding onto a tiny sliver of hope, but to be honest I'll probably be both disappointed and relieved to discover they are not fertile. Thanks again for your thoughts. If they are infertile, I wonder what triggered the delay in clucthes--May to Oct. seems like a long time.

 

[dedc369]

if your eggs went to 103 degrees for 7 hours would they die

 

[Frogsong]

if your eggs went to 103 degrees for 7 hours would they die

103 for 7 hours is pretty high. But, I wouldn't toss them yet because you never know.

 

[jharris08]

frogsong,
I tell people about their females first clutch b/c it has happened to me multiple times...not saying its 100% or anything but it is common....if you're not prepared for a lot of dragons, then you should not breed them ...period. its a responsibilty that you have to be ready for, and thats something that everyone thinking about breeding needs to realize up front.