Something wrong with milli eggs?

[van_veen456]

Hi guys!
I've got a question about my some of my milli eggs.
First, the info...
The eggs where laid on 4th april 2008
The male and female are first time breeders. Both two years old and over 20 grams.
The eggs are incubating in a cocopeat / perlite mixture. Don't know the exact humidity. Incubation temperature 26,5 to 27 celcius.

And now the problem...
The eggs are fertile and started growing very well. After 4 days in the incubator I checked them for veins and such and both eggs had a red glow and where showing veins.
Now, more then two months later, the eggs/young should be preparing to hatch. I candled them again (without picking them up!) and both eggs seem 'empty'. At the bottom of the eggs I can see there's 'something' but the upper half off the eggs don't show anything anymore. Its yellow, no veins and no darkness of a possible young. Half way down the egg I can see a dark patch. Probably around 4, maybe 5 mm big and round (eye on a eggsack?)

Could the young have died somewhere along the line? Is the cocopeat/perlite mix to acid? (I'm incubating all other eggs in pure perlite. Except for two O. monillis eggs. They are in the same egg container as the milli eggs but they seem fine)
If the eggs where bad, shouldn't I have smellt something? They look mighty fine (perfectly white and they have grown).

I think its still to early to open the eggs up (where at 69 days now). But somehow I have a bad feeling about this...

 

[Hilde]

As long as the eggs don't collapse or outright stink, I leave them be. There are too many stories of people who cut them open and found a live embryo inside. There's a good chance they're just developing slower than you expect, so the embryos is smaller and doesn't show as a big dark area. I'd leave them be, give them all the time they need. If you give them a chance, you can't go wrong, but once you cut them open or pitch them, they'll never hatch.

 

[oli]

leave them alone! sometimes the eggs look empty but still hatch, i swear it sounds crazy but it's true. gotta give them the benefit of the doubt and let them sit it out.

 

[van_veen456]

Defenitly guys! I never open up eggs that look like they still might hatch!
Its just so odd to me...A half empty egg that looks just fine!

 

[Hilde]

Many years ago, I had a clutch of leopard eggs that had me confused. One egg candled dark, the other had veins but was almost white, barlely any colour visible, not even much of a shadow. I left the egg alone, and lucky for me too, since an albino hatched out. I didn't even know that the parents were het, they were sold to me as plain SHT. I'm not suggesting you'll have an albino hatch, I'm just giving you an example of an egg that looked dead, undeveloped and still hatched.

 

[van_veen456]

Thanks...
I'll keep checking the incubator daily. Every egg deserves a chance with me. No matter how bad they look.
I've never hatched milli before so its probably just 'beginner nerves'. Thanks for the kind words. Its good to hear others have experienced such things to

 

[oli]

seems to be part of the fun and excitement of the season

 

[van_veen456]

Defenitly! This is the 'exciting' part of the season. Checking for eggs and young. Next will be the rewarding part. Seeing the young grow and develop.

 

[oli]

yeah i agree, it makes the hard work, research, frustration, all worthwhile when you see the animal in the incubator, then to witness it eat and grow is an amazing experience, goodluck with those eggs let us know their progress. If nothing comes of them, there's always the next clutch right?

 

[Glider]

If they egg hasn't collapsed or totally moulded over, just leave it for a while. I would consider that incubation temp to be a little on the low side, though one time I incubated a Levis Levis egg at +-26C and it ended up hatching at 79 days!
I now run my incubator for Nephrurus at 28-29C, which generally results in hatching around 60days

I haven't done Milli eggs before though so there might be a little adjustment for those.

 

[Ira]

You might want to raise your temps up a little bit, I've had good success with a temperature of 83F or 28.3C

 

[van_veen456]

Thanks for the input!
I have thought about that but I'm also incubating C. calyptratus, E. agricolae and R. cilliatus in the smae incubator. Going up a notch might be 'harmfull' for those eggs.
(by the way, its quite warm these days so I checked the temperatures again. A very steady 27,5)

 

[van_veen456]

Yes...I'm an official crybaby!
Just found this wee little thing in the incubator.
(yes, I've seen the leg, I'm keeping an eye on things)

 

[Ira]

Congratulations!!!

 

[oli]

i don't want to say it but, I ....., no but seriously congrats, and is the leg(s) ok? I never seen nothing like that, is it negatively affecting your offspring or is that just some debree (peat/vermic.) left on its foot from your incubation medium?

 

[van_veen456]

I thinks its just some debree from the incubation medium. But I'm defenitly going to keep my eye on it!
It looked liked it was really fresh out of the egg yesterday. I took it out so that it wouldn't start digging tonight. I ussually prefer tp leave them in the incubator for around 12 hours

 

[oli]

That's good, give them a little time to soak in the moisture and stay warm before they get introduced to their juvenile homes. Congrats and enjoy!