Clutch of 9 is now clutch of 7 :(

[adizziedoll]

and all i can think is, what did i do wrong??

I know the medium was a bit dry right in the beginning, but I did add water and they seemed okay.

Im wondering, did I possibly take them out too much? This would cause fluctuation of temperatures if taken out too much - The temps were steady inside the incubator.

I cut the 2 open to look, it seems like they both died around the same time, maybe a week ago.
I am at day 51, btw. I guess this is all part of the learning process, but boy am I crushed, and boy do I feel really ***** right now. Please, help me figure this out.

[muddoc]

Adizzie,
It sounds to me like yoou did everything right. I take my eggs out about every four days for a visual check and a little air exchange. So, I would say that unless you are taking them out everyday for 20 minutes a day, then you are probably fine.

As far as the medium goes, I'd say you did the right thing. I always like to mix my meium a little dry. Why? Because you can always add water, but you can't take it out. Start a little dry and add water as needed. I don't think you did anything wrong here.

All this summed up means, sometimes these guys weren't suppossed to make it. I wouldn't blame myself, that is just the way it goes sometimes. It doesn't matter how well you take care of them, if they weren't destined, then there was nothing you could do. Look at the bright side, you still have seven little ones coming that will need a lot of TLC.

[JLC]

Hang in there, Ginger! Even the "big guys" lose eggs every season. I wish I had the experience to comfort you that you're doing fine...but it sounds like Tim did a great job with that anyhow. I'd trust his word on it.


Won't be long now before you have a bunch of beautiful little babies to help you forget a couple of bad eggs.

[adizziedoll]

Im thinking that with such a big clutch all piled on top of eachother, the heat generated from the flexwatt and the heat generated from the developed babies maybe overheated them. I dont know really, but your words are really a life saver. I am so lucky to have a group of people like you at a time like this. Thank you ever so much.

[adizziedoll]

Realized that we're actually down to 5 Its sad to cut them open and see the poor little babies. Next time i get a big clutch like this in a pile, im going to try and seperate them a little with some floss.


If my clutch of 6 all hatch (they are not in a pile) I will feel a lot better about my incubation technique. I hatched all 4 of them last year

[MPenn]

Realized that we're actually down to 5 Its sad to cut them open and see the poor little babies. Next time i get a big clutch like this in a pile, im going to try and seperate them a little with some floss.


If my clutch of 6 all hatch (they are not in a pile) I will feel a lot better about my incubation technique. I hatched all 4 of them last year

I am sorry for your loss.
But I must reiterate what Tim said. Some are just not destined to make it.

I will add this. The eggs being in a pile is not the problem. I generally deal with carpet clutches of 16 to 32+ eggs. 90% of the time they have already adhered by the time I am able to get them out from the mother. With this many eggs, you may lose one or two, but it does not have anything to do with them being in a pile.