Some breeding woes!

[muddoc]

I like to post up things that many see as bad luck or problems, in hopes of helping someone out in the future with a similar occurance. I have 2 lessons today, and I will follow up on these 2 issues as they develop over the next 2 months.

First up is incubation temps. We do incubate our eggs at 89.5 degrees, plus/minus. However, this Thursday morning, at about 9 am. Monica kept in touch with me throughout the day to keep me posted on the incubator's internal temperature. By 2pm, we still had no power, and the incubator and egg boxes were all about 80 degrees. Up to this point, I hadn't pushed hooking up the generator, as I know from past experience that a generator will not run a proportional thermostat, at least a Helix DBS 1000 (we use a Helix 1500 watt system on the incubator). Well, the plan was to hook up the generator, and plug the flexwatt right into the wall, and unplug them when the incubator got up to temperature. Low and behold, the Helix 1500 watt system runs fine on the generator.

So, I will keep everyone posted on how the clutches that dropped to 80 degrees do over the next 60 days. I believe that they will be fine, and calculate that they were in the bator at less than 88 degrees for about 2.5 hours.


Lesson 2 was a hard one to swallow. We had a clutch that was laid (not sure if it was yesterday or today, because she was 4 days early) of five eggs. Well, I typically seperate my eggs prior to putting them in the incubator. Well I got 3 eggs away from the bunch, and accidently ripped one of the last 2 eggs while seperating them. As soon as I saw a bit of fluid, I immediately stopped seperating them, and was able to stop the leak by pushing the other egg back over the hole. I made a few calls, and got some good advice from Sean Bradley (I was not able to do this, but thought it might help someone one day). Sean said he had a similar problem once, and cut a piece of eggshell from an egg that had just hatched, and glued the piece of eggshell over the hole in the egg using some Liquid Band-aid. Well, I can't use this approach, as I am scraed to try and remove the egg the rest of the way without ripping the other egg more. If I attempt to see the hole, more fluid leaks from the hole due to the top egg putting pressure on the egg with the hole.

So, the plan for now is to watch the egg over the next week or two. Hopefully, the small amount of fluid and the other egg pushed back over the hole will help to seal it up. However if the egg appears to be deflating, I have a plan. My plan involves using some Elmers glue to seal the hole. I am figuring that since kindergartners can eat Elmers glue (LOL), it is probably same for an egg and unhatched snake. I am thinking that it is not very toxic, and I know that it doesn't have any smell to it.

Well, as much as I am nervous about both of these events, I will pass on the updates in this thread. Hopefully I can post good news, as I would like for everybody else to know what to do if something like this may happen to them in the future.

Thanks for reading my babble,

[nevohraalnavnoj]

Sorry to hear about that torn egg! What a total bummer!

Could you elaborate more on the inability to run a helix off of a backup generator? This is news to me, as I always assumed that the power coming out of a generator was just like it had come out of your wall outlet?

JonV

[ShawnT]

Good read Tim, and Good luck with all the eggs!

[JASBALLS]

Good luck Tim.. I actualy had one rip last year. It was stuck to the bottom of the bin, I didnt realize it until it tore. There was just a little buble of clear fluid. I put on a tiny bit of liquid bandage and she hatched out fine!

[muddoc]

Sorry to hear about that torn egg! What a total bummer!

Could you elaborate more on the inability to run a helix off of a backup generator? This is news to me, as I always assumed that the power coming out of a generator was just like it had come out of your wall outlet?

JonV

The power coming out of a generator (at least mine, since it is not a very high dollar generator) is too dirty (i.e. too many pressure surges). The Helix DBS-1000 has too many built-in error codes to run of a generator. The Helix 1500 watt has no error codes, and I think this is why it will work on the generator power. Maybe some have had better luck than me, but I tried to run all 12 of my Helix DBS-1000's in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina, and was never able to get them to work.

I hope that is explaination enough. Let me know if you need me to expound more.

[muddoc]

Good luck Tim.. I actualy had one rip last year. It was stuck to the bottom of the bin, I didnt realize it until it tore. There was just a little buble of clear fluid. I put on a tiny bit of liquid bandage and she hatched out fine!

JAS, thanks for the positive news. I unfortunately can't get to the hole, since the other egg is in the way. However, I think it will seal by itself (between the internal fluid and the other eggshell, something will seal closed I believe). I did poke a hole in one last year with a pencil while marking the eggs at day 42, but it closed right up and hatched out fine. We'll see.

Thanks again for the comforting news.

[snakelady]

Scary about the torn egg. I hope it is ok.

I'll be looking for the updates.

[KMS]

Good Luck Tim..
Kevin Stoltz
www.kmsreptiles.com

[nevohraalnavnoj]

Thanks for information about that backup generator, Tim. I had no idea about the DBS-1000 not being able to be controlled by a backup. I wonder if a "power conditioner" used for high end electronics devices could help or maybe a higher dollar generator (as you mentioned) ?

Good luck with the torn egg,

JonV

[nevohraalnavnoj]

I actually just did some checking and can't seem to find the Helix 1500 watt system anywhere. I checked their website and they have the users manual for it, but no thermostat.

Anyone have more information?

JonV