Egg Incubation Medium & Methods

[Dragonborn Exotics (Ryan)]

What does everyone prefer to use as their incubation media? Vermiculite, hatchright, other things? Also, how many of you bury your eggs directly into the media, and how many of you keep your eggs out of contact with the media using some sort of tray/egg holder?

Sidenote: This is actually the reason for me starting this thread, but does anyone ever add water to their incubators during the season if they notice the water content evaporating? I know adding too much can cause issues with the eggs taking in too much water and it kills the embryos. It must be ok to add some though if you don't over due it. Opinions? Experiences? Please share!

 

[Poke]

I use pangea hatch. The trick with incubation is have enough depth so you don’t have to add more water to it. My minimum depth is usually 1 1/12 inch of incubation media. I also have a couple pinhead holes on the lid for some air circulation.

If your media is drying out within 2 months then you have to many holes in your incubation box or you don’t have enough incubation media.

 

[Dragonborn Exotics (Ryan)]

I have 2 small holes in the top of my container and at least 1-1/4" of the hatchright. It didn't start to dry completely. The hatchright wasn't turning colors like it was dry, but you could tell it didn't seem as wet as it did almost 3 months ago.

 

[ArborealsAnonymous]

Last year I did the eggs directly on perlite hydrated by weight, and didn't add water during incubation, containers were sealed with just a few tiny pinholes for air flow. My successful hatch rate was dismal and I had two babies that hatched on their own but perished immediately after. Not knowing what the cause was and suspecting (among many other potential causes) that lack of sufficient oxygen could be the culprit, I added a lot more ventilation and now I incubate on soaked vermiculite (sopping wet) with a plastic craft grid to keep the eggs from directly touching the media. The containers aren't open, but I do have several 1/8" holes around the perimeter. So far my babies have hatched just fine this season. I also altered the diet midway through last summer (increased insects, reduced amount of prepared diets) though so better nutrition could be the reason for the difference though.

 

[Michael]

This is an older video, but I still use Super Hatch and basically place eggs the same way. Only difference is the use of an incubator to manage temps and times

I remember years ago when the SIM incubation containers came out... has anyone tried those with Chahoua? I have a feeling chewies need the extra humidity of being at least partially buried/direct contact with the incubation medium.

 

[Dragonborn Exotics (Ryan)]

This is an older video, but I still use Super Hatch and basically place eggs the same way. Only difference is the use of an incubator to manage temps and times

I remember years ago when the SIM incubation containers came out... has anyone tried those with Chahoua? I have a feeling chewies need the extra humidity of being at least partially buried/direct contact with the incubation medium.

I just watched that last night! Lol

 

[Gray Sky Exotics]

I’ve been using the super hatch; i’ve Done room temp & incubator...prefer the incubator as it is easier to maintain both humidity & temps. I’ve never tried the SIMs with the chahoua eggs, but have with the gargoyles & stopped using it when I lost several due to drowning after piping.

 

[ArborealsAnonymous]

This is by no means a fact, but I don't think the chahoua eggs need to be in contact with the substrate. Mine are lifted off the substrate with a layer of this plastic mesh and so far this season, all my eggs have been hatching just fine.

 

[MelissaSR]

Although I did this with crested eggs, one year I played with egg suspension over the medium, worst hatch rate ever. Never went back!

 

[Dragonborn Exotics (Ryan)]

I have been using the SIM container suspension method for 2 years with good success, even though I haven't had many eggs. 6 out of 7 eggs hatched. The one egg fully developed but never hatched and died. I cut it open days after the clutch mate hatched after it started to dent.

My chahoua and other eggs are doing really well, the only issue I have with the SIM is that the eggs are not held in place very well and when a gecko hatches they tend to crawl on the eggs and knock/roll them over which is not cool. I am going to be experimenting this year and next year with a new setup.

I like the suspension idea because the eggs are not in direct contact with the medium and I feel like this can help with the issue of eggs absorbing too much water by being partially buried in wet substrate. They also get more air circulation around the entire egg.