eggstatically eggsited !!!

[Kryptonian]

Ok so day 39 past the prelay shed and shes has laid.





now before I remove the eggs I want to be sure all is good. Right now shes wrapped around them and using a temp gun the egg at the top reads at 87.8 f. I didnt want to bug her to much but from what I can see there is at least 5 good eggs, havnt seen a slug but wont know exactly until I take them away.
I have had my incubator run steady for a week and a half at 88-89f according to the digi thermometer. However the repti temp just came today (talk about timing) so I have placed the probe by the thermometer inside the incubator. I also just now made the shoebox with vermoculite set up. I used the plastic shoebox no holes put in 5 oz of vermiculite to 5 oz of water and mixed it up good. It covers a third of the bottom of the box. I then put a piece of egg crate that fits the box perfectly snug above the vermiculite. Then I put saran wrap over the box and clipped down the locking lid. It is now in the incubator coming up to temp. I only set up the box now as I was worried about the vermiculite drying some while waiting for the eggs to be laid. So now how long should I wait before taking the eggs? I am sure they should be fine with her until I am certain the incubator is 100% ready.

[rabernet]

I've made egg boxes up on the spot and added eggs right away, and I've also pre-heated the egg box - either one will be fine! Congratulations!

[Kryptonian]

thats good to know, I think ill wait till tommorow and preheat the egg box and to make sure the thermostat is good. Give mom a day to rest with them too before I stress her by taking them away.

[llovelace]

Congtrats

[twistedtails]

Right on!! I can't wait. My girl is in her pre-lay shed cycle right now.

[Kryptonian]

so heres the funny thing about this whole situation. This girl hides her pregnancy well . First of all she was succsessful in becoming gravid without cooling which was awsome. When she was developing follicles there were no signs besides her glow. When palpated you could not feel any and I had her previous owner check her who had bred her and he said he never felt any either.She had an appetite right up until ovulation. She never did the cool seeking or wrapping of the waterbowl. Now that shes laid she never gave any signs of that either. No laying in a coil, no laying inverted either. Anyway though this was interesting as half of the things I read about to look for during the whole process never happened yet I still ended up with a good clutch. What a sneaky girl I have

[Kryptonian]

one more question, when i take the eggs are they not usually stuck to each other? Is it safe to unstick them and if so how to do this safely?
I dont think they will fit in the egg box if they are in a mound.

[rabernet]

one more question, when i take the eggs are they not usually stuck to each other? Is it safe to unstick them and if so how to do this safely?
I dont think they will fit in the egg box if they are in a mound.

At this point, I wouldn't attempt to unstick them, especially if you left them with her a full day. It's easier to unstick them if they are just laid (within an hour or two).

[Kryptonian]

Ok so I have the incubator all steady. I had to play around with the repti temp a bit to get it on the same page as the incubators thermostat. I used a digi thermometer and took temps of the inside of the egg box and the inside of the incubator and its holding in both areas at 88.? the point changes a bit.The humidity in the egg box is 99%. Luckily the eggs fit no prob, with her on them it just seemed like they might not. I have the probe in the incubator stuck to an upside down bowl to bring it to the same height as the eggs and it is as close to the egg box as possible, this is where I also keep the thermometer.
there was 6 eggs which is what I thought she would have since this is how many she had for her previous owner. They all look good, plump, white. no slugs. they weigh 612 g so it looks like an average of 100 g per egg. I am not sure how big to expect the babies from eggs this size but I am guessing they will be good size.
I candeled the eggs and all of them have lots of veins.

They are now in the incubator. The temps went down to 84f in the time it took me to get them in the box and into the bator.

I totally cleaned and steralized mommas cage with water and betadine and sanitizer , and gave her a water betadine bath to remove the smells. She is doing well and not the least bit aggressive. She did however loose alot of weight. She was close to 2000g before she stopped eating after ovulation she is now just under 1000g. This confuses me since I thought she would only loose the same weight as the eggs. She looks like a deflated balloon. How soon can I start to feed her agian?

heres some pics, first is the eggs after taking momma out



next the eggs on the scale



the next 4 are of the eggs candled. I only took pics of the outer ones, but have candled them all and they are all very veiny.






the eggs in the egg box



the inside of the incubator with the probe, thermometer and egg box placement



and last is momma after her bath



well that it for now, I will post baby pics when they hatch, heres hoping for a female spider.

[Simpson Balls]

Hey nice clutch! Hope all does well. Just a Q? What was the pairing?

Daniel