Hi all,
After last year's season which brought me 14 hatchlings of which only two were female I decided to try and get the eggs in lower temperatures. As the preferred spot for laying eggs is always in the warmest regions (top) of the viv I used removable locations and transferred the eggs to an incubator.
Question 1:
I blocked the usual fixed egg laying spots and created nearby removable locations (tubes, bamboo, ..). Each tube is coated with tissue so I can easily remove the eggs without harm. That worked quite well and I got several eggs deposited there. But lately it seems the females go out of their way to avoid those removables. Are they intelligent enough to see me as a predator if I take their eggs away? I always waited one or two days. Any ideas how to overcome this problem, because now I have eggs again in warm locations that I can't remove.
Question 2:
The eggs are placed in an incubator at 24°C (a temperature I got from this forum), in a ventilated box with moist vermiculite (pinning the tissue with the eggs onto foam pieces). The incubator works by drawing in air and refrigerating (now in summer) or heating the air. So I guess oxygen is not a problem. Moisture inside is never below 75%, and temp is as stable as a rock (independent logging thermometer inside). But so far only 50% of eggs hatch (females, but still). Eggs in the viv are closer to 90% hatching. The eggs that don't hatch grow and get darker, but that's it. When I open them I find almost fully grown hatchlings, but clearly dead a while. The shop I got my first pair from has also tried breeding with an incubator, but got even worse results. They are now warning against using incubators for this species. I am starting to think the lower temperature is actually killing off the weaker ones, leaving only the hardier (females) to hatch. Anyone an idea how to improve things?
T.
After last year's season which brought me 14 hatchlings of which only two were female I decided to try and get the eggs in lower temperatures. As the preferred spot for laying eggs is always in the warmest regions (top) of the viv I used removable locations and transferred the eggs to an incubator.
Question 1:
I blocked the usual fixed egg laying spots and created nearby removable locations (tubes, bamboo, ..). Each tube is coated with tissue so I can easily remove the eggs without harm. That worked quite well and I got several eggs deposited there. But lately it seems the females go out of their way to avoid those removables. Are they intelligent enough to see me as a predator if I take their eggs away? I always waited one or two days. Any ideas how to overcome this problem, because now I have eggs again in warm locations that I can't remove.
Question 2:
The eggs are placed in an incubator at 24°C (a temperature I got from this forum), in a ventilated box with moist vermiculite (pinning the tissue with the eggs onto foam pieces). The incubator works by drawing in air and refrigerating (now in summer) or heating the air. So I guess oxygen is not a problem. Moisture inside is never below 75%, and temp is as stable as a rock (independent logging thermometer inside). But so far only 50% of eggs hatch (females, but still). Eggs in the viv are closer to 90% hatching. The eggs that don't hatch grow and get darker, but that's it. When I open them I find almost fully grown hatchlings, but clearly dead a while. The shop I got my first pair from has also tried breeding with an incubator, but got even worse results. They are now warning against using incubators for this species. I am starting to think the lower temperature is actually killing off the weaker ones, leaving only the hardier (females) to hatch. Anyone an idea how to improve things?
T.
