HELP!!! Need lots of incubation information right away!

plizardman · Member Joined: Aug 11, 2005 Posts: 25

My female Argentine B&W just (over the last 3 hours or so) dropped 57 eggs. A few don't look so good, but the vast majority look perfect. I urgently need advice from successful breeders on how to best incubate these eggs. I need to know incubation temperature, incubation medium, humidity level, days till hatching, and do you prefer cutting the eggs or letting them hatch naturally. Right now the eggs are on damp paper towels in a warm dark spot. Tomorrow I will set them up soon as the stores open.
Your prompt help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
-Phil

tupinambis · Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 8:08 pm Post subject:

You should have 100% humidity.
The best medium to work with is vermiculite. You set up a container with equal parts (by weight) water and vermiculite, dig little pits in the moist vermiculite and deposit the eggs. They do better if they are mostly buried with just the very tops exposed. The temperature we incubate at is 30-31 degrees Celsius (others recommend 27-31, but we usually incubate them in with our crocodilian clutches). Incubation period is 64-76 days. The chamber they are kept in needs as I said about 100% humidity, but that doesn't mean it should be air tight. If it doesn't breathe, everything will go moldy. I have never had to worry about slitting the eggs of tegus. Even if you can't go to the store today, I recommend getting the eggs OFF a flat surface and put into something more supportive, such as soil. A flat surface tends to dimple the eggs and can cause permanent damage, plus if you don't have a high enough humidity, they will lose water, even if the towel is moist.

plizardman · Member Joined: Aug 11, 2005 Posts: 25

Makes good sense to me. Changing from paper towels right now. Will do the vermiculite thing tomorrow. Thanks.

tegulevi · Respected Member Joined: Mar 10, 2005 Posts: 489

This is bull shit i try to breed and get nothing you dont try and 57 eggs. what luck lol

plizardman · Member Joined: Aug 11, 2005 Posts: 25

Sorry about your bad luck. Maybe next year. Actually, she has bred twice before, but while husbandry is pretty good, my incubating has been pretty damned close to horrible. Both times max I ended up with was like 12 babies out of more than 40 eggs, most of which looked good to begin with. This time I am seeking the help of you experts to do it right.
I have a breeding group of 5 adult lizards that I have built up after originally having 1.1. Now, I have 4.1, as all my new females turned out to be stud males. Talk about feeling like a dumbass. I hope that with a good hatching this year, I can work on unloading males, buying or trading for girls, rebuilding the Frankenstein of an outdoor enclosure I built, and maybe putting a few dollars in the kids college fund. Wish me luck.
By the way, my feeling is the success I have had is mostly due to the outdoor enclosure. I put them out soon after the last frost, and bring them down to the cool basement when the temp drops and they shut down outside.

tegulevi · Respected Member Joined: Mar 10, 2005 Posts: 489

where do you live, in im ohio so i cant do much outdoors

plizardman · Member Joined: Aug 11, 2005 Posts: 25

NYC suburbs