Leopard gecko breeding questions

Awesome, thanks! So I should not worry about the small cracks?

Also, Lenetta has two whitish eggs visible. Now that I've seen the process of egg development, I would say she'll probably lay in about 2 weeks. She could lay anytime between a week from now and two weeks from now, but they look kind of small to be laid on the sooner end of that. :D

I don't think the cracks are a problem. I don't think they are actually in the shell itself.

That's great! Keep us updated when you get more eggs.

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Originally Posted by Lizrd_boy

Awesome, thanks! So I should not worry about the small cracks?

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I wouldn't think so- anyway, nothing you can do about them. ;)

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Originally Posted by Erie_herps

That's great! Keep us updated when you get more eggs.

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:gj:

Okay, so after not checking on the eggs since Wednesday (don't ask me how. I'm pretty sure I'm going crazy) I opened up the incubator this morning and candled the eggs. One had mold growing on it (the same one with mold the first time) and it looked too wet, even tho the medium is reasonably dry. The other egg, in the same type of setup, looks fine. When I candled them the one with mold looked empty. No veins, just yellowish :(. It doesn't stink yet, so it's still incubating, but it doesn't look good. The other one has veins still, and doesn't look too wet. Also no mold.

Any ideas why one went bad? Am I doing something wrong, or was the embryo just not able to develop for some reason?

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Originally Posted by Lizrd_boy

Okay, so after not checking on the eggs since Wednesday (don't ask me how. I'm pretty sure I'm going crazy) I opened up the incubator this morning and candled the eggs. One had mold growing on it (the same one with mold the first time) and it looked too wet, even tho the medium is reasonably dry. The other egg, in the same type of setup, looks fine. When I candled them the one with mold looked empty. No veins, just yellowish :(. It doesn't stink yet, so it's still incubating, but it doesn't look good. The other one has veins still, and doesn't look too wet. Also no mold.

Any ideas why one went bad? Am I doing something wrong, or was the embryo just not able to develop for some reason?

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It just happens that way sometimes- internal defects & nothing preventable, most likely. Not every egg is able to hatch & the loss of an egg is much easier than the loss of a defective animal after it has managed to hatch & gotten your hopes up. Some losses are just part of breeding. The egg that appeared "wet" (or what I call "slimy") is typical of a non-viable egg, as is the yellowish interior when candled. Mold growth, as you know, is never a good sign, but when you candle eggs you usually get a more definite assessment, though not always the one you hoped for. ;)

Thanks. Is the defect likely to be the case with the other egg as well, or the next clutches she lays?

I met someone at Rexpo today who said that they used vermiculite for their leo eggs and it always made the eggs mold. She said she uses perlite and has had much better results. Should I try that for the next clutch?

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Originally Posted by Lizrd_boy

Thanks. Is the defect likely to be the case with the other egg as well, or the next clutches she lays?

I met someone at Rexpo today who said that they used vermiculite for their leo eggs and it always made the eggs mold. She said she uses perlite and has had much better results. Should I try that for the next clutch?

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I've only hatched snake eggs, & only with vermiculite, so I can't tell you much- only that vermiculite holds more water than perlite, & whether that was the real reason for the mold, or it was just a coincidence, I can't say. Most of us try things, & we stick with them when they work for us- your experience with the same things may be totally different.

Just like 2 cooks can follow the same recipe & their food turns out differently. Maybe she used too much water with the vermiculite & the eggs drowned, then molded. Impossible to know what went wrong there. It's often recommended to measure the water added but after the first time, I never did- I just always went by "feel" & did quite well. (I usually cook the same way. :D )

I wouldn't make any assumptions about the other egg, much less future clutches- I don't think I've ever had a clutch that hatched 100%. Nature just isn't perfect.

Ummm, so I just candled the egg and it was yellow but the side with mold on it had blood-red splotches and a dark spot in it. I took pictures, but I can't post them on here mostly because the file is too big. Here is a link to the one I was able to put in my gallery.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/sho...mageuser=85563

Is it OK for me to link to another forum where my pictures show up???