Moving with Eggs??

[KatStoverReptiles]

Hey all. Anyone have any suggestions for moving eggs? Looks like the hubby and I will be moving our collection of 25+ snakes (and lizards...and cats...and dogs!! oh my!) sometime in May. Problem is...our 7 eggs will be on day 55 on May 20. I'm incubating at 88 degrees, so I expect they'll go a little beyond the expected 55-60 days but if all goes according to plan, that'll be smack dab in the middle of our move. We'll only be moving 2 or so hours away, so I won't need to keep them overnight or anything...

I'm thinking if I play my cards right (and save them for very last) I should be able to have them out of the incubator for only 4 hours or so (take them out, incubator in car (it'll have to lay on its side, so no chance of leaving them in it), drive, incubator into new house and give it a bit to come back up to temp and stabilize). I can use close-pins attached to the light diffuser to keep the eggs from rolling around...I'm just wondering what ya'lls suggestions on keeping them warm would be? Also, since I'm going substrate-less should I drain some of the water off of the vermiculite?

Also if you have any general advice or another method I'd be happy to entertain it.

Thanks all!

[Mike41793]

What are the temps like there? I would just do your best to keep the eggs above like 75ish degrees. What I would do is get a small cooler. Fill a bunch of water bottles with 90ish degree water and lay them all along the bottom. Put the egg tub in there on top of them and dont open the cooler again until youre ready to put the eggs into the incubator. For added security you could pack it with newspaper too because thats a good insulator and it would make sure the egg tub doesnt slide around at all. Ive heard people saying that they had their power knocked out during a blizzard and the eggs got down to like 68deg for 12-20hrs ( i honestly cant remeber exactly). And all the eggs ended up hatching out just fine. So I think if you do what i said your eggs will be just fine.

[Don]

If it were me, I'd leave them for last (like you suggest). At the new home, I'd already have an incubator up and running and settled in at the proper temperatures. Also, I would use a cooler with heat packs taped to the sides (near the top) to keep the temp stabilized while moving. In the cooler, I'd have a Tupperware container (with an open top) full of sphagnum moss that is very wet, to hold humidity. Be careful to not slosh it around and get the eggs wet.

You may need to waste some heat packs to test out the cooler and get the temp set correctly. I'd test everything before the move.

Also, be sure to use proper 40 hour heat packs and not hand warmers. The hand warmers get too hot and do not hold temps for long enough.

Good luck!

[WingedWolfPsion]

Get a cooler beforehand, and get a bunch of heat packs. Experiment with them--see how many you need to get the temps in the cooler up to at least 85F, and how they change temperature as they age out.

You should be able to figure out how many you will need, and when to open them, so you can put the eggs in there to transport them on the move day. I personally would not suggest letting them drop to room temperature for 2 hours, keep them as close to incubation temperature as possible (never above it).

[Dragoon]

get a power inverter for your car. adds a 3 prong outlet in your car and wire up a cooler incubator (if your current incubator is too big)

[Don]

get a power inverter for your car. adds a 3 prong outlet in your car and wire up a cooler incubator (if your current incubator is too big)

I like that idea! Good thinking.

[KatStoverReptiles]

Thanks everyone! You've given me some great ideas. Does anyone have any personal experience with moving eggs? I'd love to hear what you did and if you'd do anything differently knowing what you do now.


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[JTrott]

Eggs are SUPER resilient...as long as they don't roll that far in, they will be fine......wouldn't sweat temps.....keep them between 70 and 90......alls good......

Jason

[Dave Green]

I moved from NJ to AZ with two clutches of eggs. One hatched on the way and the other hatched about a month after we arrived in AZ. We drove an RV and I kept them in the incubator on vermiculite. I didn't do anything, just pinned the incubator on a seat in the RV. I was shocked how much the RV rattled and after about 10 minutes I figured the eggs would never make it. I used heat packs during the day which kept the eggs around 80 degrees and plugged the incubator in at night.

I would suggest you drain the excess water and try and keep them from rattling, etc. They'll be fine...

[dreese88]

I used a styrofoam cooler as my incubator last year and moved from SC to Philly... Had water bottles that had been in the incubator the duration of incubation. Was about 12 hours and the temp never got below 82...eggs hatched like 3 days later..Just don't let them roll around and take out some of the water.they'll be fine