Help my Leopard EGGS Hatch

[chris124578]

I have a 33 gallon tank which I house leopard geckos in.
I have one male to 4 females. So far I've had 4 clutches and no eggs have survived past 25days.. I incubated them in the Hova-Bator. i think the thermo was broke..
Could it be the male is not a good breeder...

I was told by someone to just put the eggs in a rubbermaid container with perlite/water, and leave it on a shelf for 6-70 days, will that work better?

thanks

[Ryan]

Leo eggs are not as forgiving as say corn snake eggs can be, corn eggs can handle the temps jumping around a bit but Leo eggs cannot. It may have been your hovabator was not at the correct temp. 80-90 F. for leos or possibly humidity problems, checking them too often can cause too much airflow and therefore eggs can start to dry out from the humidity going down.

How old are your leos? Some that are maybe bred too young can have low fertility rates, actually first time breeders in general may have probs. the first time around.

[Ryan]

Also......the shelf method will not work unless you can keep your room a very constant temperature which is not easy to do in most cases.

[anders_240sx]

What I have done ..and I have had 100% success with (except 2 eggs in which was my fault because I didnt remove them from the tank in time).. is have a digital scale ...the more accurate the better .... get a rubbermaid container of decent size ... zero or tare the weight of the bottom of the container ...add perilite until 1/2 to 2/3 full ... take the weight of the perilite (in grams) and times that by 0.8 ... that will give u the amount (in grams) of how much water to add (use spring water or de-mineralized water) ..using a spray bottle ...spray the container evenly until u have reached the correct weight.... then place the eggs in (u can make numerous one and have them standing by) then seal the lid air tight ..yes air tight... this will hold in the humidity... once a week just have a quick look inside by opening the lid ..this allows for air exchange ...dont do it for too long ..only about 20 seconds or less .... Now if your reptile room isnt warm enough ... place the containers in a tank with a 24/7 heat bulb ... or other heating element ... I dont recomend using heat pads because they will heat up the containers too much .... basically keep a thermostat within the tank and close to the containers ... as long as the tank is within 80 and 90 degrees constantly ..you're alright ... of course u could attempt to temp sex them also ... but consistancy is the key when incubating ... I tried an experiment with a clutch by reducing the temp from 83 to 77 for 2 weeks... then 75 for 2 more weeks ... they hatched around the same time as another batch that didnt have these fluxes and the size was much smaller and weaker ... ... hope this info helps ... good luck

Anders

[Linds]

Were these eggs fertile to begin with?

[PaulBar]

Mold will grow on infertile eggs. Eggs that glow pink when you shine a flashlight at them should hatch and not have issues with mold. To hatch eggs properly you need to do the following;
1) Buy a hovabator incubator
2) buy a thermometre and humidy meter or gauge
3) Buy a deli container with punched holes in the sides.
4) Buy vermilculite at Canadian Tire and put it in a bucket and soak it thoroughly with lukewarm water.
5) Take the vermiculite and squeeze it in your hands as tight as you can until most of the water squeezes out
6) Put this squeezed vermiculite into the deli dish filling it half way.
7) Put water in the hovabator troughs and in another deli dish in the hovabator. The extra water helps maintain the humidity.
8) Place the deli dish with the vermiculite inside the hovabator.
9) Run the hovabator to attain a constant temp of 84F
10) Put your eggs half way buried inside the deli dish within the vermiculite.
11) Wait 51 days and viola you will have a hatchling if the egg was fertile and glowed pink when candled.
12) Once or twice a week open the deli dish and hovabator to allow for fresh air exchange.

Thanks,
Paul