Is she an exceptional egg layer?

GOOD NEWS!!!!!!!!! Sweet Pea is finally laying her eggs as we speak. Iam at work so my son is watching
her. I want to leave but my job wont allow me to leave early, so of course Iam going to go crazy for the next 1 1/2 hours before I can go home. I cant hardly believe that we finally got everything right for her to lay. I was reallly getting worried, now I can sleep a little easier. The incubator and egg containers are waiting. Today is a good day :lol:

 

Congratulations, SnowWhite!!!

How many eggs did Sweet Pea lay?

 

27 eggs in the incubator. I thought I saw a photo of an incubator setup that had put a probe in the sandwich container holding the eggs, is that for temp or humidity. What should I do to assure the eggs are the proper temp and humidity other than temp & humidity guages which I have?

 

I have a Coralife digital aquarium thermometer with a probe on my incubator. It can also be found in the reptile section of some of the larger stores. I layed the probe right beside the eggs.

Other than the guages, you just need to keep watch on how damp the vermiculite is. Wet enough so it can clump, yet not so you can squeeze water out. However, I just discovered mold on my first batch of eggs (42 day old ones). Yet, the soil isn't too damp.

Congratulations on the 27 eggs!!! Won't it be fun when they hatch?

 

My temps are ranging from 84 to 87 degrees with the humidy at 67 to 68 (note that is the readings of the guages which are placed inside the incubator). We have had some very warm days so the temps have rose a bit. I will get another thermometer with a probe, I will look at the one that you have.
With the humidity, it sounds like it is dependant on the vermiculite itself. Is that correct? As long as the vermiculite is moist, Iam OK? I did spray the lids of the containers so it had a little bit moisture. The hunidity guage is bugging me because I cant get it more than 68. I have the water in the bottom of the incubator and the egg containers have moist vermiculite, do you think Iam on the right track?
Im sure once I do this successfully I will feel much more confident for the next go around. Im so excited to watch them hatch. I will have to take the day off work or bring them to the office if they hatch on a week day. I will just tell them they cant do anything until the weekend ^_^

 

I hope they listen to you. ^_^ I keep telling my eggs to hurry up, but they aren't listening! I think that we are both equally excited and nervous about our first hatchings.

However, it sounds to me like you are doing fine. Humidity should be no less than 60% and as long as your vermiculite is moist, but not dripping when squeezed, you are on the right track.

Temperature is an issue with me too. It gets so hot in our house in the summer. I am always checking to make sure it's not too hot. I guess if it's too hot, they can die.

Let's cross our fingers!!

 

Its nice to talk to someone who is feeling the same fears and eagerness that Iam.

My temps were a little high this morning nothing too dramatic just 86 degrees. I really want to keep it at 84 but it seems to fluctuate no matter what I do. I guess from what I have read that its OK just as long as its a small variance.

I wish they made such a thing as a humidty guage with a probe so I could measure the humidity in the containers. I will have to invent something. Im going to order the temp w/ probe today.

I will say an extra prayer for both of us for a healthy and quick hatching. When was it that your eggs were laid?

 

That is so sweet of you! My first batch was laid on May 9th, second was May 24th, and the last was on June 10th. I've been so excited since the first day we discovered Tiger was gravid. I'll bet you were too with Sweet Pea. Also, it is very nice to share with you. It seems that we have the exact same feelings and situations even though we are in different countries (I would assume you are from the US).

I am very frustrated by temperature fluctuations. This morning, I found mine at 87.3! I freaked, but I guess it's okay as long as it's not for extended periods of time. I would be in heaven if I could keep the incubator at 84.

How big is your humidity guage? If it's big, maybe you can find one that is smaller that you can fit inside the containers. How big are your containers and how many eggs do you have in each?

With fingers crossed and prayers said ....

 

So do you have 3 clutches in the incubator :?: I have just on clutch.
Sweet Pea laid one clutch with her previous owner and then this one
with me. I dont know how many she will lay. I suppose like you I
will probably have another clutch laid in a few weeks (didnt think of that) :shock:

My temps are fluctuating too but I feel between 83 to 87 is not too bad. Its just very hard with the summe weather. I might put mine in a cooler
room and see if that helps. The forums that I have read said that the
incubators can heat things up but not cool them down.

That is a great idea to put a small humidity guage in the containers, your a genius !!!!!!!! My son put the eggs in the containers and they are pretty
close together. There is a varying amount per container. Do you think I could move the eggs very carefully to another container to make more room. I would think if I put the new container in the incubator to get the humidity & temp the same, it would be OK?

 

I've moved eggs before without problems, very carefully though. Just make sure that you don't turn them by accident. If you take a soft pencil and mark an "x" on the top, it will help make sure they stay upright.

I have my incubator on the main floor in our house. In the office, actually. I keep it there so I can keep a close eye on the temperature. Yet, our house gets very warm in the summer, too. We have a nice cool room downstairs, but I am worried that we will not be able to keep a close eye on it. It could be hours unnoticed down there.

I think that I am going to ditch the incubator I have and perhaps turn a bar fridge into one. I believe that the insulation would be better in a fridge, thus keeping out more heat.

Tiger did lay three clutches this spring. It's really quite funny. We bred her on the 25th of April and expected a clutch in a month or so. Next thing we know, it's only two weeks later and poor Tiger is digging away in her enclosure. So, we quickly got her laying box together and she gave us 17 eggs. We NEVER thought that we would see any more without breeding her again.

We thought Beardies were like dogs, humans, etc., one breeding produces one birthing (or laying). Meantime the male had been moved to a different room. Anyway, about a week or so later, we noticed she was getting big again. Then she got lumpy. What the heck? So, I asked on here and sure enough, she was gravid again. I did not know that a female could have multiple clutches from one breeding. I feel very silly about that now. I think Tiger is taking a break now. It's been two weeks and not a sign of being gravid. I'm glad for her.

Well, I'm starting to ramble on again. We should just exchange email addresses or MSN. I'll bet everyone else is getting tired of our conversations but I think they are great!

I hope the small humidity guage idea works for you. Look for Exoterra's hygrometer. It is about 2 inches in diameter and it seems to work well for me.

TTYL

 

I imagine your right about people sick of our conversations, my home email address is greenesmail@netzero.net, you can email me there anytime, I would be happy to chat with you. I look forward to hearing from you.

I checked out the small humidity guages, they cost $9 apiece at Petsmart, I thought that was pretty expensive so I thought I'd shop online and see if I can find some cheaper. I have already marked the eggs, actually my son did it when he put them in the incubator.

I think bar fridge would be perfect for an incubator. I have read on the forum here and other ones that they work great. If you do some research online you might be able to find some setup plans for one.

When I first got my beardies and decided to breed I didnt know they could lay more than once either. It was a pleasant surprise to find out since I had purchased a gravid female. So do have 2 or 3 clutches in the incubator? I will have to check Sweet Pea again to see if she is getting big again.

There is one thing about Sweet Pea that is bugging me though. She isnt interested much in salad anymore. Before she laid her eggs she would eat a large portion of salad fixings but now she wont touch it. She eats tons of crickets and I give her about 5 superworms a day. I dont worry about her not eating I just wish she would eat some salad.

Take Care

 

Hey you two, this is your thread to talk about breeding, incubating, hatching, and all that stuff as much as you want. You can keep it going for 80 pages for all I care! If people don't want to read it they don't have to, but I'm sure for many it's interesting to read about your experiences and learn from them. Keep it up! No worries!

 

l've actually found your "ramblings" very informative so, yeah as kephy said, keep it up! lol! l've just found out lizzy is gravid again but she hasn't been near or in sight of lenny! l'm wondering if it's stored or not! My hubby has gone mad! lol! He doesn't mind really but l hope lizzy does alright as the last time was a bit wearing on her but must admit she has put alot more weight on now! Good luck you two!

 

That is so very nice of you Kephy and Alison!!! I thought we might be starting to waste the thread, but if you don't mind, I would sure like to continue.

Alison, we were very concerned when Tiger started showing gravid again. It seemed that the first time was very hard on her. But, she managed to bounce back better the second time, and even better the third.

I guess they don't even need to see the male anymore to produce more eggs.

Snow White...

When we got Tiger, she would not eat veggies at all. She wouldn't even look at them. However, when we put Spikes in with her, she saw him eating them and then went to town. After that, she ate them like crazy - until just a few days ago. Neither one will really touch them right now. I wish I knew why.

People have said to not feed crickets or worms for a while, but I don't know about that. I just keep offering the veggies and giving them the same amount of crickets and worms as I do any other day. My feeling is that they will eat when they want to. Veggies and bugs are available to them in the wild and someone doesn't take one away for a few days. You know what I mean?

How long has it been now since Sweet Pea laid her eggs? I'll just bet that she will have another clutch for you soon, maybe more.

I just thought of something... I would like to see a picture of her! I'd like to put a face to that name.

Good idea about doing some research on the incubator fridge. Sometimes I get so busy that I have a hard time sitting down to actually research. Plus, I need to get rid of my husband for a night or so . He's such a computer hog (spends A LOT of time on aquarium forums!).

I am suprised at the price of the humidity gauge! We paid less in Canadian funds for ours. Plus, Petsmart is usually less than our local Petland. Btw, where are you from? Perhaps I can ship stuff to you in time as we are going to try to get some stuff wholesale. We are going to make this another one of our businesses, so we'll get licensed and all that jazz. That way, we can attend the reptile shows as vendors.

Which reminds me!!! I'm getting a beautiful red baby sometime soon. I didn't get the pair of girls that I wanted, due to very bad business practice and I'm NOT IMPRESSED. Anyway, I have a little girl on hold from a different breeder. She is SOOOOO CUTE!! Take a look and tell me what you think...

http://www.reptilescanada.com/gallery/show...=500&page=1

The breeder is educatedly guessing that it's a female, but it really does not matter. However, if it is a girl, I think that I would like to call her Rosie.

Well, I should run for now. By the way, my email address is rlcraig@telus.net. Email me anytime too. I also have MSN, Yahoo, and AOL messenger. If you have any of those, I will give you my username.

That goes for anyone.

Bye for now.

 

Day 51 now on the first clutch. Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock. The wait is driving me crazy.

 

take a picture as soon as it happens so we can see RhondaC! l'm a bit worried about one of my eggs it has a couple of blotches of lime green on it and then it seems to sweat! none of the others do so l can't see how it could be humidity but l have no way of measuring that as l can't get hold of one! There are 4 that are growing tremendously! They are huge! Hopefully the others will catch up! Fingers crossed RhondaC

 

How big are the lime green blotches? I wonder what that could be!

Alison, how old are your eggs now?