I'm proud to announce Izzy laid 16 eggs.....amazing for such a young dragon, she's only 10 months old. I have set up an incubator best I can with petstores being closed today. It's got 2 inches of potting soil (couldn't find verticulim (sp) at walmart)(oh and i moistened it to where it would clump but not drip) and a thermometer (82 degrees right now) with a heating pad under it. Is this ok? will the potting soil harm them? I'm not sure they are fertilized, most of them have pink spots, and one looks like a possible. I tried the light thing...most of them look empty. Please give me some advice!
I'm going to put a small dish of water in there to help maintain humidity...have to wait for it to be washed...
If you can I would try to get vermiculite. Walmart didn't carry it when I looked either but lowes had it, (the store workers and myself had some trouble actually finding it though.) You don't want any chemicals, fertilizers in the soil to damage your eggs.
Thank you, I had no clue where to look beside pet stores. I will check today. Also, most of my eggs are still dented....and i think it might be too humid, but just warm enough, how do i clear out some of the water without disturbing the eggs?
If they are dented in i think that means they are not getting enough moisture, or they are not fertile. Do you have a hydrometer in there? and what are the temps? I notice the stick on thermometer but those are really inaccurate. Do you have a probe/ or temp gun?
no, I was unable to get to a petstore because they were all closed yesterday. I plan on going today and getting some of the things i need. like the dial thermometer and hydrometer. they are getting enough moisture...they have to be, the side of the box are dripping with water, it's condesing on all sides. There is a possiblity they aren't fertile, although she was housed with a male for a while...will probably be again until i can find him a larger tank. (i moved him to a 20 gal while she was digging, and it's not big enough for him).
Dial themometers are extremely inaccurate too. Sometimes by as much as 20 degrees. I would still recommend a probe one. You can get one at walmart with, i believe, a built in hydrometer too, for under 20 bucks. It hard to know what to fix if the temps/humid arn't right. Once we know those, then its much easier to get the eggs on track.
Ps. It might be beneficial to open up the lid every once in awhile to let in some fresh air, just don't keep it open long you want to keep heat in. I've never incubated eggs with a heatpad like you are so im not too sure how that will work, but as long as temps are fine it should be fine.