Are my eggs good?

Hi. My 8 year old female leo bred in July and dropped her first eggs on August 5th and 2 more on the 21st. The 2nd set have grown since being dropped but the first are quite small. The reason they are dirty looking is they were laid on a moss soil mixture. Any ideas? This is my first breeding attempt, hopefully somewhat succesful. First pictures are the first batch. I think the egg on the right is bad, it looks somewhat slimy. Thank you!
Kristina

If the eggs remain turgid (firm to touch) for more than 24 hours after being laid, they're fertilized and good. From above all those eggs look okay, but it's hard to tell without gently touching the top of the egg. If it dimples under your finger, the egg is generally no good. Of course, don't give up on any eggs until you're positive they're bad. I've heard tales of eggs being thrown in the trash only to have babies hatch a few days later!

I'm not used to using perlite as an incubation medium, but that looks awfully wet. That one egg may appear slimy because there's a thin layer of water over it. I would unbury it a little bit to let that embryo get some air.

It's not abnormal (at least in my eperience) for one egg to be smaller than its pair. I always blamed it on inadequate nutrition during the yolk-forming stage. The female probably puts most of her energy into one egg so at least one baby will be big and strong rather than split limited energy and nutrients between two eggs (and get two but sometimes weak babies). I wouldn't worry too much though. In captivity you can separate the smaller sibling and take care of her/him individually. I've had babies hatch out of really tiny eggs, so don't give up on them!

The perlite does look to wet to me too, it should be .8 parts water or a little less to 1 part perlite. I actually use .6 parts water to 1 part perlite and use a lid with no airholes.

The eggs do look fine, I have some that are all different sizes and the babies all come out just fine, some a littel smaller than others.

If you can candle the eggs, that may help but they are pretty dirty and that does make it harder to candle them.

I think Vanessa is right, there may just be condensation on the first set of eggs which could suffocate the embryo if its left on there, you can take a q-tip and gently wipe off th excess moisture and leave the lids off the delis for a few days to try to get out some of the excess moisture.

Ive had some crappie eggs hatch so don't give up til they are rank and nasty, you never know.

Good luck with them!

ps Here is a good page on egg fertility:

http://www.milwaukeereptiles.com/eggFertility.php

This next questions is for those of you that are into snakes also. I have successfully hatched bull, gopher, and corn snakes with the same combo of perlite and moisture the last few years. Should this be different for my Leo's?? As I said before this is my first try at Leo's and I want to be successful. Any and all help and answers you all have will be greatly appreciated!! (good and bad!!) Also just as an FYI and am incubating them at about 84-88 degrees. As far as I can tell from what I have read and heard the first eggs should be ready to hatch with in the next week or so???

Here you a good page on incubating leo eggs.

Pro Geckos egg incubation care sheet


Glenn Bishop
G & M Geckos

I wouldn't be surprised if your eggs don't hatch until the first week of October. I'd say expecting them to hatch within the next week is really early. My eggs generally take two months to hatch, but that's because I incubate at lower temperatures for females. If your incubator is varying between 84 and 88 degrees, it's harder for me to predict when your eggs should hatch. It all depends upon the mean (average) temperature, with a lower mean taking longer to hatch.

I think I am in there looking at these eggs at least 20 times a day waiting!! I can not wait until the first one hatches! I look at all the pics that you all post of your tangs, patternless and albinos and everything else and can not wait until I get there myself! I am envious of all your pics!! I am starting with 1.2 normals. I need to get out to Maricopa and see what Gene has for sale. I think I have the Leo bug!!

Originally Posted by KRISSYK

I think I have the Leo bug!!

That's a tough one to get rid of too! Symptoms include lot of happy moments, running to the rubbermaid section of any store, figuring out how to use deli containers, looking at bugs and wondering their nutritional content, financial loss due to feeder bills, less spare time, a lot more time taking pictures, and getting the idea that 400,000 leos still isn't enough.....

Welcome to the club.

good luck. i was so excited when the first eggs began hatching in my incubater. i thought theyd never hatch but oh boy it was worth the wait.

ive been using the smell test with the nastier of my eggs. if that slimy one starts to smell i might toss it, or at least move it to a different container. someone posted not too long ago that he suspected a rotten egg had affected the eggs in the same container.

i use Albeys method http://www.albeysreptiles.com/incubate-eggs.htm
but i use a 1:1 ratio with vermiculite instead of perlite.