Eggs very transparent. Need advice

[aldebono]

Hi everyone. I will try to make this short, sweet, and informative.

This is our first year breeding.

Got a big (definitely over 2,000 grams) normal girl from a friend who was downsizing. She is a reliable breeder for him, usually throws 10 eggs as she did for me this year. Paired her with my first year breeding spider.

She laid 10 eggs and we moved them to home made cooler incubator, 89 degrees with thermostat, hatch rite and eventually on top of eggcrate for a no substrate deal.
This is what they looked like right after she laid them.


All had visible veins but 7 eggs quickly sunk in and dried up despite having them on eggcrate with saturated substrate. 3 still looked very sunken in but we could see movement in 2 of them.

I cut at day 59 to find one living spider, one dead spider and one dead normal.

We are very grateful for the one spider who is about to go through its first shed. But we really want to know what went wrong.

I am at work and will only be able to answer some questions until I get home to my record book. I really want to be able to fix this so it doesn't happen again.

Thanks in advance,

Angela

[snakesRkewl]

Just a guess but the eggs look like she(mom) might have been calcium deficient from not eating enough before growing follicles.

[dr del]

Hi,

It looks as though they weren't calcified at all in that pic?

Were they like water filled baloons or were they white and leathery feeling at any point?


dr del

[aldebono]

Just a guess but the eggs look like she(mom) might have been calcium deficient from not eating enough before growing follicles.

That is what I have theorized. She ate well with me and I have no reason she did not eat well or was not fed well before she came to me. She was on medium/large rats once a week.

Hi,

It looks as though they weren't calcified at all in that pic?

Were they like water filled baloons or were they white and leathery feeling at any point?


dr del

Honestly. I don't remember touching them. They never turned that one color white that I see everyone else eggs like.

Does anyone supplement calcium for their breeders?

Thank you everyone for your responses so far. Dr. Del, I know you are very helpful as I have been a lurker here for quite some time.

[aldebono]

Anyone else have any ideas or do I just need to assume it is a calcium deficiency and treat accordingly?

What would be the best way to supplement calcium?

Slit open the rat (dead) and pour some powder in? How much would be too much/ enough? How often? Every feeding, every other feeding?

[dr del]

Hi,

If she is eating whole, well grown, prey then she really shouldn't have a calcium deficiency at all.

It could be an underlying problem or it could be a problem with egg development or, and this is the one to bear in mind, it could be a one off fluke problem.

The only way to be certain of calcium deficiency is probably by looking at bone density on an x-ray. Not particularly cheap.

If she feels strong and in good body condition I'm not sure I would go for that as they tend to have to anaesthatise them which carries risks.

If she gets back into condition for next season I would breed her again if you can and see if the eggs have the same problem. If they do I would probably avoid breeding her again until I had looked into it.

It might be worthwhile sending the pics to some of the bigger breeders as well for their opinions as they see more eggs than most and might have had something similar in the past.


dr del

[aldebono]

She hasn't had this problem with the previous owner.

So it's pretty much a waiting game for next season.

I am going to the Daytona Reptile Expo in a few weeks and I think I will print out a picture to show some of the breeders there to see if they have any ideas.

Thanks for the help Dr Del.

[adamjeffery]

if she has been bred every year for a few years, she may just need a year off to fully re-coup. just because she is of proper weight doesnt necessarily mean she is ready to lay again.
adam jeffery

[aldebono]

Adam- I will ask her previous owner about her records. Thanks for the suggestion.