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Bearded dragon eggs - Gone bad?

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7.6K views 6 replies 3 participants last post by  Azastral  
#1 ·
This is the first time i have ever had eggs, and tis the first clutch my female has ever had.

Out of 12 eggs only three were fetile, they were pure white.
I have been incubating at 84F, its varies between 83F and 85F in the incubator i have set up.

Checked the eggs today and they have started to go off-white, they are a kind of cream colour now, slightly firm to the touch, its been about a week.

I'm pretty worried...
Have a photo from when they first went in:
Image

And from now..Photo doesnt show the slight brown tint to them, i have just misted them too:
Image
 
#5 ·
Im pleased to say it looks like it was just me panicking!

Been a week since and they havent gone brown or moldy they've stayed the same off-white cream colour and seem ok!
Image

Ive misted them a couple of times just to make sure they are kept humid but not wet. i cant tell if thyve grown in size but its been about two weeks since they were layed.

Fingers crossed i will get three healthy babies!
 
#6 ·
Well i think i am loosing all three of the eggs.

Over the last week one deflated completely even though i had been checking the vermiculite and making sure it was still slightly damp. it started by going slightly brownish with almost clear/opaque patches. i kept incubating it just in case but it sank completely.

I cut it open to look inside when i removed it and there was nothing but a hardened yellow yolk, no embryo.

The one that looked most promising and largest of the three then started to follow suit, its still in the incubator and hasnt gone brown yet but has opaque patches and is deflating.

The ls showing signs like they did, even though i had separated them off. Its still plump bt slight opaque patches and slightly sticky to the touch.

I have been closely watching humidity but it seems to have spun off in the last week, even though the incubator hasnt been altered, still running at 84F with a high of 85.5 and low of 83. same tubs, same temp settings etc.

I am wondering if perhaps none were fertile and just the humidity alone kept them inflated, or if the initial exposure to a high temp when they were laid and the dodgy few days trying to manually regulate their temp while the makeshift incubator was put together and run to stabilise meant they died off or were dying early on and its just taken 4 weeks to come to completion.

Bit upset about it, i know it was all far from perfect and i was completely unprepared for them to be laid when they were but i had still hoped.

she isnt looking like she is going to lay another clutch either which seems a little odd, everything i have read says multiple clutches are the norm. But we will see, she hid the first lot very well and it was only the last week she seemed to get fat. If she does plump up again i am going to buy a proper incubator to avoid any risks, hopefully learn from the pitfalls this time round.

If she doesnt i am going to give it a few months then actually try to properly bred her once shes looking really healthy again, her fat stores havent completely come back yet even with extra insects compared to usual. (Still eating like a horse but thats not uncommon for her at all.)
 
#7 ·
If theres more clutches or i bred intentionally i wont be using vermiculite and sand mixed in the incubator this time, it seems to hold too much water (Although i think the waterbath setup didnt help with this at all)

As i said, proper incubator, the lucky reptile herp 2 has been recommended to me. So will use just vermiculite, bottled water and the proper incubator.

Also learnt with the laybin size isnt everything! i had bought a tub that covered half her viv to give plenty of choice, but she was only interested in the warm end, and it seems depth is more important than area.

Also going to take all four of them for a vet check up just for a bit of a MOT.

So fingers crossed, hopefully in the future there will be some baby dragons but we will see (and yes, i have looked into possible homes and also a few small pet stores that were all interested in taking the babies so i have got means to sort them out with places to go, also want to keep a couple for myself)