REally frustrated with my fatties...

[steve905]

I've got a pair of wild caughts that I've had for 2 years. Shes laid almost 25 eggs and they had pink spots when I incubated them. The issue is the eggs go bad within the first 3 weeks or so. I have them cooking at 83 degrees with my leos eggs. They're in moist vermiculite. I'm contemplating selling my pair just because I can't get the eggs to hatch.....Selfish maybe..... I'd just want a few juvies. What can I be doing wrong?

 

[Imperial Geckos]

if you are incubating them together with leo eggs..that could be your problem..

Fatty eggs are alot more sensitive to humidity than leo eggs are...so i think maybe your incubation substrate might be too wet..

 

[Imperial Geckos]

^^my first fatty eggs went bad because i didn't squeeze out every little bit of water out of the vermiculite..

 

[steve905]

I'm sorry if I was unclear....They incubating with my leo eggs not in the same delicups. When I mix my vemiculite I squeeze it out until its done dripping so its pretty dry. Do I need to mix in some dry to make sure its not overly wet?

 

[Imperial Geckos]

Well when eggs mold it could mean 2 things..
1. It is infertile
2. It is too wet (which is my guess b/c, you say you see veins in the egg)

By the way remember the deli cups need air exchange.. i make 1 hole in the deli cup..

Here is a video i did, maybe you can get a better visual, Good Luck :main_thumbsup:

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[steve905]

Thanks for the video. THe sad part is I've done all of that my vermiculite is smooshed(technical word I know) into a ball and no water comes out as I squeeze.....I've seen the pink spots and I've hatched leos,cresteds, and beardies so I know I can do it. I've talked to other Fatty owners and they've experienced the same issues of lots of eggs and minimal if any hatchlings...While SOME of you do it like leaves falling off a tree...Its really frustrating..I'll try to lower my moisture content and see if that helps...Thanks again.

 

[Imperial Geckos]

Good Luck! :main_thumbsup:

 

[acpart]

It's kind of a mystery to me. I've run about 50% hatch rate with fatties. Last year I hatched 4, this year 5. The eggs that didn't hatch also started out with veins. I've heard they're a lot more delicate and harder to hatch. I use perlite (Albey's method) and the hobovator last year but am using the SIM with reptipro5000 this year. My final fattie just hatched this morning.

Aliza

 

[acpart]

I forgot to mention, I"ve read that minimum temp for fatties is 82.5. Maybe they'll do better if you raise the temps a degree or two.

Aliza

 

[SFgeckos]

I don't think incubating different species together is detrimental to their health at all? I've been doing it for years...

There may be many factors involved such as nutrition, genetics, age, etc. You mentioned they were wild caught? It could be possible that the male is older and experiencing reduced fertility, or the female is lacking trace minerals/vitamins and not able to produce a strong developing embryo, or there could be incubation issues.

There was an interesting thread a while back that had some discussion related to infertile eggs, etc.

http://geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=56596

 

[acpart]

I've actually incubated fattie, leo and coleonyx eggs together successfully, but in the case of fatties and leos, if you're too low on the leo temp range you will fall out of the acceptable range for fatties. If the temp inside the egg container really is 83 you're probably OK, but if it's lower it could be a problem for the fattie eggs.

Aliza