I just had 14 babies hatch..all doing well. 22 more are due to hatch any day now and some of the eggs are looking really weird. They are all moving around in there and they look healthy, but a couple eggs have spots on them where the shells are so thin that you can see inside? I thought maybe they were just getting ready to hatch but I can still see alot of yolk in there and the veins are still visible. She just layed another clutch 3 days ago and it was very different than her other 3. The eggs were small, 2 of them were deflated (could have been from her packing them in) and they all had a yellow tint to them. I thought for sure that meant they were going to be infertal but when I looked today they are starting to get the red splotch inside of them. Now here is the crazy thing..a couple of them also have spots that are see through..what does this mean? Could something be wrong with her or am I doing something wrong?
Incubator - homemade, 1st clutch successful, temps at 83 humidity 60, inside vermiculite, 1/2 burried in tupperware containers with holes on top and bottom. Vermiculite is not to wet or to dry.
Hi Cheryl....eggs need a LOT of protein and calcium during their development. The see through spots indicate some lack of calcium, and the smaller size is because the multiple clutches are demanding, and not quite getting, all the nutrition they need. The babies can still be healthy but will be a bit smaller. What size is she, and how old ? Very large females have stronger and bigger clutches generally than younger, smaller females, but all breeding females need TONS of food, so keep feeding and supplementing her extra at this time. Also, separate the dragons if you haven't already. Oh, and the eggs that look like deflated balloons are infertiles.....unless they are busted and yolk has run out of them.
My camera isn't the best so hopefully you can get something off of these pics. The lack a calcium would make sense. How much is she supposed to get? I dust her crickets every 3 days with calcium and vitamin powder. She is a bit over 2 years old and is 17-18inches. Her other clutches have looked great. I have a pet store that has been purchasing them from me and I wonder if I should freeze this clutch incase something is wrong with the babies?
Ok, thanks for the help. How much calcium should I be giving her?I have the flukers powder and usually dust the crickets and any meal worms or wax worms she gets for treats. Im not sure if this was her last clutch or not so I want to be sure she is getting enough but I don't want to overload her (if that's possible).
Those look JUST like mine, I was wondering if they were bad too. I can see the veins in mine so that means they are growing. It's a relief to know that they can still hatch!
About the calcium...I gave her crickets with calcium and vitamin powder and then the next day gave her some meal worms and a couple wax worms for the first time with the calcium powder. When I gave her a bath that night she had diarrhea soooo bad!! She did just lay eggs last week so I'm not sure if it has to do with the supplements, meal or wax worms or laying? Ever hear of this? I was going to post this on the health topics but my last question about her stool never got answered.
Hi Cheryl, if it was the first time with new foods [ meal + waxworms ], that can cause the nasty diarhea. It should stop after a while, but if your'e worried just go back to what she's used to. And as far as calcium, it's good to give egg-producing females calcium once a day, especially since some of her eggs were slightly under-calcified. Other than that, the eggs looked good....I'm sure you tossed the deflated ones, they would be duds. When not breeding, you can cut the calcium back to 2-3 X week, but wait until at least a month after she's done laying any eggs to cut back.
Thank you! And yes, I did get rid of the 2 eggs that were deflated. It looked as though she smooshed them when she was burying them in the vermiculite. The others seem to be getting better and are loosing some of the yellow tint.