Cutting Eggs Like BPs.

[mlededee]

Well at first we had read that the eggs hatch at 76-80 degrees and a 60-80 day incubation time. So I use a frige/freezer as an incubator for bps. The temps in the freezer above my fridge stayed around 80 degrees. There was no heat in the freezer section, but the heat rising for the fridge were getting to hot i found them at 82 on some days. Deciding this was the cause of the eggs not hatching we moved the eggs to a shelf in the room. Still was having problems with the eggs not hatching.

Any eggs that were in the incubator with high temps would have been affected by the heat they received. A few hours of excess heat can be enough to kill a baby in the egg, cause deformities or other problems. Moving those eggs to cooler temperatures might not have any affect on those eggs, only those that were laid and placed into the cooler temps from the start would totally benefit from those proper temps.

After talking to others on this forum we decided the food was the cause of the geckos not hatching. The females may not have been healthy enough. I also seperated my males from the females at this time. This was our females first year breeding could it be due to that?

A healthy first year breeder female should lay healthy eggs with babies that have no problems hatching. She may lay one or two infertile clutches before she starts laying fertile ones, but beyond that all of the clutches should be good. If you have a female that has been laying for a long time with no break and is getting depleted, her last few clutches may go bad due to the fact that she was not healthy enough when the eggs were developing and being laid.

[AnthonyCaponetto]

1. Never cut the egg early. Unlike a python egg, most gecko eggs are "pressurized", for lack of a better term...meaning when you cut the egg, the gecko is coming out immediately...not later today, but right now. That's a bad thing if the gecko isn't at full term. Also unlike python eggs, crested gecko eggs can vary tremendously in how long they take to hatch. I've seen everything from 45 to 120 days. Eggs from the same clutch can even hatch a week or so apart.

2. We had lots of trouble with eggs going full term and then babies not making it out. In my situation, switching the parents from baby food and crickets to crested gecko diet and crickets seemed to help. Many of these geckos were first year breeders, and that almost certainly played a role...which brings me to number 3.

3. Eggs from first year breeders do seem to have a lower hatch rate. This isn't always the case with every female, but our numbers (out of 100-200+ first year females each season) indicate a substantial improvement in hatch rate and a noticeable increase in production in their 2nd and 3rd years.

4. My best advice is to not give up. Crested geckos are VERY prolific breeders and are very (VERY) easy to breed and hatch.

5. You may want to try adding more water to your incubation container. We use perlite about 3" deep and put about twice as much water (by weight). Most people incubate with a 2:1 or 1:1 perlite to water ratio...we incubate at a 1:2 to 1:2.5 perlite/water ratio...but we use a deep container to make sure water pools at the bottom.

Just FYI, we use a 6.75" container (either 3" or 3.5" tall) with about 80 grams perlite and 160-200 grams water. We find this to be a safe a range that allows us to wait 2-3 months before adding water.

Almost forgot...every 2-3 months we just weigh each container and then add enough water to get it back up to the correct weight. You also have remember that each egg in the container will add about 2 grams when you're doing the math.

[RhacHead]

For anyone looking to breed Ciliatus this is sound advice Anthony knows his stuff. Good to see you over here.I knew you were into Morelia but didnt realize you did BP's.

[AnthonyCaponetto]

Good to see you over here.I knew you were into Morelia but didnt realize you did BP's.

Haha...oh yeah. They're actually the first reptile species I ever bred. Got my first in 1991, but now I've been keeping them constantly since 2001. Huge huge fan of the morphs...just opted to stay on the sidelines while the ridiculous prices worked themselves out. I bought a bunch of cool CH females in 2005 and just started feeding them, waiting for exactly that to happen. :-)

Had I been able to afford some morphs earlier in the decade, when clowns were $10K, pastels $2K, and butters $35,000 (lol), ball pythons would probably be a big part of our business now. Now that the prices aren't so stupid, I'm really getting back into the morphs.

The funny thing is...when I got into crested geckos, all my ball python buddies told me to quit wasting my time. Now we all get a chuckle out of it because some of my top notch crested geckos sell for more than some of the morphs they were paying $10,000+ for (mojaves, spiders, etc.). lol

[singingtothewheat]

You know. I think you made the right decision. Being a nurse for 21 years and doing my research well, I have learned to pop, probe, tube feed ect. Now I certainly would not say this is for everyone but I have 11 snakes. I can't run one to the vet in Colorado springs for every little thing. If the animal is truly ill and it looks like an R.I. or scale rot, or if my gut just told me something just ain't right at all, I'd go to the vet in a minute. I got a pastel earlier this year and when he didn't eat for awhile I thought it was just stress and then it started to be the time of year when they would normally go into brumation. I finally started giving him pedialyte via tube and soaking him in warm pedialyte. I treated him for worms. I also supplemented is diet with baby food chicken. When we did that for two months and my attempts to persuade him to eat still were not working we went to the vet. The vet said he really looked very good, maybe a little thin but not worrisome thin. She gave him a broad spectrum antibiotic and flagyl and two weeks later he was pounding mice like no bodies business. Should I have gone to the Vet first. I'm not sure. Will I do it differently in the future, perhaps.

You've cut eggs before, you know how it works and just how delicate you have to be. Those guys with the razor blades scare the ____ out of me when I watch a vid of cutting and I'd probably go for little suture scissors personally. I think you were very prudent and thoughtful in your decision and you weighed the facts. GREAT JOB!

[MKHerps]

I had very good success with cutting the eggs. I have cut many ball python eggs and thought I would give it a shot. Toward the end of the season when temps outside here in Texas got cooler we had a 100% hatch rate. The first three or four months even at room temp in our house I think the eggs were getting to hot. My house can reach low 80's on a 100+ degree day in the summer. I only cut 8 eggs out of 20. Those eight eggs all survived and started eating quickly. I cut right on 60 days when the temps were on the higher end. I waited 75 days when the temps started getting cooler. Those eggs probably would of hached on there own if I would of waited. I still have one clutch of eggs to hatch. My males and females have been seperated for months now and no females have laid eggs for two months. I will not start breeding again till late Feb. or Mar. So we ended up with 28 babies aout of 58 eggs.

Does anyone know of an incubatror that can heat and cool to maintain a temp? My problem here in Texas is keeping the eggs cooled and out oh the 80 degree range.