i have a problem

I have a problem hatching my leos. i get to day 50 or so then they turn discolord and start to deflat. it looks like there ready to hatch almost but then they dont. its wierd. after so long i get curius. knowing the egg has died. i slitly cut it open and find a unborn leo. why do some of my eggs do this? they discolor then deflat and die off. im puzzled. my incubater is set at 86 or 87 it goes in between those numbers all the time. i dont think this would hurt it though. only a 1 degree differnce. im puzzled on what to do. this is my 4th egg this season that has done it. others are fine. what do i do?

hm,i really dont know.And im not sure, but since no one else has answered i wanted to say somthing.Id say its just a little bad luck..maybe somthing to do with your female's capabilities?I dont know, dont quote me on any of this but thats my 2 cents.

What supplements are you using and how are you using them?

What is your water to incubation media ratio? What size incubation container are you using? Is your container ventilated? How many eggs per container?

-Alice

Alice has good questions! Too much humidity or too low or too little air flow or too much, so many factors can cause problems.

What is your hatch ratio, I see its the 4th egg to do this but how many total have been laid/fertile and hatched.

Are these eggs from 1 particular female or a mix of females?

Originally Posted by dragonflyreptiles

Alice has good questions! Too much humidity or too low or too little air flow or too much, so many factors can cause problems.

One of these is probably the issue. In my experiance and egg denting in at that time likly has too low humidity. In higher temp like you are incubating, a smaller container can dry out faster. I have had a few male eggs dent in too early and I have added water and they have evened back out and hatched normaly. they were all normal color just caved in, if they change color first the baby likely died and that is why it is deflating.

If it is too wet in the container i belive it can deflate as well but I think it may get moldy and discolor before deflating not too sure though haven't had it happen to me.

ive had about 12 eggs hatch this season. and im useing a hovabator. i am useing moist perlite not to moist but enough to clump but able to break apart easily. not sure what size container they are in but its a small container. the dimentions are about 4 inches tall by 4 inches wide and i only put 2 eggs in each one. hopfully i can figure out whats wrong and learn from my mistakes. thank you for your replys. im just gonna try to play around with maybe vermiculite or maybe even some type of moss. seems perlite isnt working for me.

I think moisture issues may be your problem. Usually if it's too dry the eggs will dent early on, but excessive moisture could cause the late term deaths you're seeing. If using perlite, I've had good luck with the .8 water to 1 perlite. You can get a cheap postage scale at places like office depot and use this to measure out the water and substrate. When I used vermiculite, I used a 1:1 ratio of water to vermiculite, but I've had a better hatch rate with the perlite.

How closely are you watching your incubation temperatures? Last year I had a temp spike and ended up having over half my eggs die with late term embryos.


-Alice

Kyle, do you put the lids on the container's for incubating the eggs, I only ask because that is the mistake I made way back with my first few cluthces I incubated a few years ago before I found all of the info I have found now. I just got back into leos last fall and other than infertile eggs my problems have been slim to none with hatching rates.