leo egg

My leo laid an egg last night so i set it up in my invubator but then like an hr later there was like a indent in the top of the egg. im asuming it was an infertile egg but my female has been with the male for a cppl weeks now. Any idea why this indent happend? and is it really an unfertile egg?

What are you using as an incubation medium? What substrate to water ratio are you using? Are there holes in the container you are using or no? Denting is usually an indication of one of 2 things: a.) The egg is infertile, as you said or b.) Your medium is too dry, and the humidity in the container is too low.

How does the egg feel? Is it like a water balloon or is the shell harder? Did you try to candle the egg to see if it has the "bullseye"? If you haven't done that, don't do it...try to handle the egg as little as possible at this point.

You can try and make your medium a little more moist and/or placing a moist paper towel over the egg to try and plump it up.

If you adjust all of the above and still get no results, then it probably just wasn't meant to be. If this was her first clutch, oftentimes it is infertile.

Its the first egg since i got her but the guy said she was a proven breeder. But the egg is pretty squishy and my bussiness partner who has raised leos befor said the egg was infertile, but i put moist paper towel in the container bc nowere around here has vermiculite or hatchrite or any of that

Paper towels aren't great for incubation medium, but leo eggs can be quite forgiving sometimes, so you never know what might work with them...

If the egg is still squishy, and your paper towel medium is moist, then i'd be inclined to believe that the egg is probably infertile. But don't throw the egg out until you know for sure it's infertile (like it starts to collapse, or mold, or smell)...i've heard of some pretty crazy stories of hatchlings hatching from eggs that looked DEAD.

For your next clutch, you might want to think about ordering some vermiculite or perlite. I'm not a huge fan of hatchrite, I like to measure my own amount of water. In my incubator, I mix the vermiculite and perlite together. The water ratio ends up being something like 2 parts water to one part vermiculite mix.

When you say that your female has been with your male for a "couple" weeks now, what does that mean? Did you really mean 2 weeks or has it been longer? The reason I ask, is because once the male fertilizes the female, she generally carries the eggs for at LEAST 3 weeks before she lays them. Leos can lay (infertile) eggs without copulation from a male, so it's very possible she popped this one out on her own. Hopefully, since they've been together, your next clutch will be fertile.

The fertile eggs have a much different feel to them, they aren't squishy at all, and they feel kinda like ping pong balls.

Home Depot carries Vermculite. It is in their garden section.

Jeff

Thanks jeff, and Jordanang420 I have kept them together since i got them almost 3 weeks ago, i dont know wut the guy befor me was doing with them but ya im just gunna leave it in the incubator till it rots lol but my close friend and bussiness partner know quite a bit about hatching leos and bearded dragons sp the paper towel is not an issue right now untill iget the vermiculite but thanks to everyone for their input!!!!