So my idiot dog got me up way too early this morning to go out and pee (he's not really an idiot...I love him...but it was early...). Guess I need to buy that dog a bone because while he and my other dog were outside doing their business, I took a peak at my normal girl and caught her laying her 1st egg! Oh my it was so exciting! This is my 1st year breeding and my 1st clutch ever! Today was 31 days since her pre-lay shed so I knew it could be anytime.
I tried not to hover, I really did...but she wasn't coiling around the eggs and was just sort of laying them willy nilly all over her tub...so after she'd laid 4 I scooped them up. They were funny feeling...I'd expected something harder and these felt like jelly filled balloons. But I weighed each and candled them and got them straight into the incubator.
Then I decided to leave her alone and went and dozed off on the couch and when I woke up I checked on her and found her coiled around 3 more! Wow! 7 eggs! She was very hissy and huffy puffy but didn't strike at me when I took her off them. My poor fat girl looks so depleted. She seriously looks like a balloon that's had most of its air let out. But no matter...she was a strong eater before so I'm sure she'll put it back on in no time. As it happens, yesterday was weigh-in day for everyone so I got a weight on her yesterday and then I took another one today and she lost a whopping 554 grams! But I guess with so many eggs I'm not surprised.
I candled all the eggs and I see what looks like good/lots of veins so I hope that means they're all good. They're a little smaller than I'd expected...between 75 and 86 grams each so I hope everything will be OK. I'm incubating between 87-88 degrees.
OK so now if you've made it through the epic novel I just wrote...thank you! Here are some pics!
Momma on the last 3 eggs
7 gorgeous eggs!
Momma lookin soo skinny!!
And a pic of dad (in shed) just for good measure.
Thanks guys!
Reply With Quote