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Opening incubator door and taking out containers

J

juice it

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I have my eggs in an incubator and it is pretty impossible to see the eggs through the door and into the Tupperware. Is it ok to every few day open the door pull out the containers and look them over? I just checked earlier and two eggs were wrinkling up which I guess is from too low humidity. I sprayed them lightly and put back in quickly. Temp is at 83 and humidity is at 75%. Is this ok to do or do you completely leave them alone for the duration?

Thanks, Jeff
 
No problem opening the door. Temp fluctustions don't seem to.bother the dragon eggs as long as it's withing a safe range (don't take your eggs outside where it's 30 degrees).

At first it is good to watch them and to have an idea how long they will take to hatch. After 4 or 5 clutches you will have an idea how long it takes with your set up and there will be less reason.

Make sure there is a lid on you egg container to trap humidity and.insulate against temp fluctuations (don't forget air holes of course)

90% of the time when the egg dehydrates, if you resupplying water in the form of moistening the incubation medium you can expect no issues whatsoever (with the egg, remember there is a developing embryo inside the egg).

It does happen, it is unfortunate.

It is not suggested to spray the egg directly. Putting a bit of Luke warm water in each corner of the contained should suffice. I.also suggest looking into better incubation mediums or add extra to the container to hold.more.moisture. Taking the lid off 10 times every day will dry it out fast :)
 
Thanks! I have been pretty good about not opening so far. This whole thing has been quick,(noticed my sons female dragon looked a bit bloated), felt what I thought were eggs got an incubator over here in 2 days and set her up with a nest box and she did her thing. I am not a breeder so I am hoping this will be a great experience for me and my kids. It will be a long 2 months though! Thanks!
 
83* F is a good incubation temp I have used that temp on dragon eggs since the mid 1980's with great results. should take around 62-64 days until you start to see tiny heads peeping out.

PS don't ever spray the eggs with water.

Good luck.
 
Yeah Ed, mine took just a hair over 10 weeks at that temp. I have great success with the upper end, it apparently makes no difference. They just hatch faster. (8 weeks compared to 9-10)
 
One of the eggs is pretty severely sunken in and a there is a tiny bit of what appears to be yolk secreted out. (like the head of a pin) Does this egg have any hope or should I remove it? There is only one more that has a very small dent, all the others look fine. Humidity looks fine as well. Don't know what to make of the one egg. Any advice would be great. Thanks, Jeff
 
Leave it, I have not lost one to dehydration but I usually catch it at the earliest onset. Leaving it in there for 3 or 4 days wont hurt anything, it may rebound. If you see any type of mould, fungus or bacteria (clear slimy and smells) around the egg remove it and the medium beneath it. It won't hurt anything otherwise.
 
The problem with setting at the upper range is temperature creep, if the thermostat clicks off at say 89* that does not give you much cushion if the temps climb.

Glad you have had no problems at the upper end but I tend to err on the side of safest way possible.

DNA Dragons said:
Yeah Ed, mine took just a hair over 10 weeks at that temp. I have great success with the upper end, it apparently makes no difference. They just hatch faster. (8 weeks compared to 9-10)
Click to expand...
 
Ed Clark said:
The problem with setting at the upper range is temperature creep, if the thermostat clicks off at say 89* that does not give you much cushion if the temps climb.

Glad you have had no problems at the upper end but I tend to err on the side of safest way possible.
Click to expand...


That is very true; my incubator is a mini fridge with a heating element (if it was 100 degrees in my apartment the incubator will turn on and lower the temp to my preference). The only thing it does not do well is provide even temperature gradient. At the bottom it is 83, at the top is warmer. I had a fan in there, but it took up space that I did needed, so now I just rotate eggs around every few days. PITB but make do with what I got. I will be in the market soon for a larger incubator and that is a good info Ed, I had not considered that, but now I know :thumbsup:
 
DNA Dragons said:
Yolk, there is yellow stuff coming from the egg? Is the egg fertile?
Click to expand...

I only said yolk because the secretion is a little yellow in color. I assume they are fertile, I saw the pair going at it several times. I added some warm water into the bottom of the incubator to try to bump up the humidity to pop that one egg back out if possible. It may be too far gone but we will see. No bad odors from any of the eggs yet. I bumped the temps up to 84-85 but as a first timer and a new repti-pro 6000 it tends to fluctuate one or two degrees during the day most likely when it cycles on and off.
 
Yeah Ed, mine took just a hair over 10 weeks at that temp. I have great success with the upper end, it apparently makes no difference. They just hatch faster. (8 weeks compared to 9-10)
Click to expand...

You haven't had any problems with babies hatching out smaller than average sized at 8 weeks? That's the only thing I've heard of causing problems with keeping them warmer- babies hatching out that shouldn't have hatched yet.
 
You do have to get used to your incubator as they all work differently. what I mean is to monitor it closely. set your thermostat probe in there and also use a good digital thermometer to see how accurate your thermostat is.a loss of a clutch of dragon eggs is a big loss.
 
Cache Reptiles said:
You haven't had any problems with babies hatching out smaller than average sized at 8 weeks? That's the only thing I've heard of causing problems with keeping them warmer- babies hatching out that shouldn't have hatched yet.
Click to expand...

No, in fact I experience the opposite, a majority of my offspring hatch very large (upwards of 5"). I think it is more about the health and genetics of the parents.. They hatch once fully developed and I have not seen a yoke sack on any of my babies before :shrug01:

There are a multitude of factors that effect the health of a hatchling. Temperature only slows down or speeds up the process of development (too low or too high will stop it!). I can not speak for temps above 89 degrees as this is the highest I have recorded in my incubator. Not saying it has not happened though.
 
Ed Clark said:
a loss of a clutch of dragon eggs is a big loss.
Click to expand...

I could not agree more, when a female lays even an infertile clutch I feel bad for the waist of energy and resources that she spent on the clutch. Even though she fullfilled her biological function, I failed to make it worth the while.

Same goes for watching incubation temps (which I do). Ed, I am PM'ing you.

CJ
 
So is there a way to tell at this point if a clutch is not fertile? I could see some red veins when I initially candled the eggs. Hopefully I am not nursing a non fertile clutch.
 
I think if you're seeing red veins it probably means the eggs are fertile. That was usually what I could see with fertile gecko eggs...
 
juice it said:
So is there a way to tell at this point if a clutch is not fertile?
Click to expand...

After maybe 7-10 days an infertile clutch will shrivel up and turn dark,sometimes they turn purple yellow and slimy.a first time female may lay an infertile first clutch...but she may lay 3-4 additional clutches after the first breeding that will be fertile.

Your job is to feed her well with lots of calcium.
 
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