Today the eggs looked pretty dented, so I added more water to the substrate. Charlotte was loosely coiled around them, although the temperatures are not unusually high. I worry she might be losing interest in incubating them.
She was acting hungry, so I offered a weaned/small rat to see if she would take it unscented. Unfortunately it was an aggressive/curious one that immediately ran up to her and spooked her. She became very distressed and started quickly circling around the eggs, trying to escape from the rat. After a little chase I was able to catch it, and removed it. I feel bad for scaring her like that. I'm giving her 30-60 minutes to calm down before I check on her again to make sure that she and the eggs are okay.
I probably won't offer food again for a couple of weeks, and keep disturbances to a minimum. I don't want her to become so stressed that she leaves the eggs.
If she shows any other signs of losing interest, I will fire up the incubator to be on standby.
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