[ricmac]

Guys. Advice please.
We've had a clutch of veiled cham eggs hatching over a few weeks. Then we got no more new ones. I had a close look at the eggs today and found many that had collapsed ready to hatch were full of tiny white bugs.

We have a second clutch in the same incubator due in a few months.

I've recovered, brushed and placed the good eggs in fresh vermiculite and binned those clearly collapsed and infested.

The dilemma I have is that there was only a partial barrier between the two clutches. (there is now!). I am considering removing and brushing the second clutch and replacing them in fresh vermiculite.

Any other suggestions on this would be much appreciated.

regards

ric

 

[BELIAL]

that is an odd one...yemen eggs are kinda hardy and it strange for them to become infected with any organism. they must have died off before infected otherwise i do not see how any bug could get in to lay eggs in the egg (if you know what i mean!)

must have been something to do with the vermiculite...i would replace all the vermiculite just incase. buy a new batch.
hopefully it isn't too late...can't be too helpful though as i have never heard of it...sorry!

 

[ricmac]

Thanks Belial.

I'm thinking that they may have died hatching and the bugs then got in, or possibly the bugs are getting in the eggs when they go to hatch.

I've recovered about half this clutch, but we have a clutch of 45 or so due in feb.

Not having much luck at the mo as we lost our female 2 weeks ago. All but 4 of the eggs she laid after being induced collapsed in a few days.

Our male is not coping well since she has gone. He's very fidgety. wants out of his viv all the time.


thanks

ric

 

[BELIAL]

happened to one of mine when his female died...he wouldn't keep still or eat and was always grumpy..i had to drive miles to get him chloe( rescue from a petshop) now he is right as rain...

badluck always happens at the same time...when induced you often lose almost all the eggs because they are not laid properly. it doesn't help losing your female and then losing the eggs...

like i said try changing the vermiculite just be careful not to disturb the eggs too much..

i have a clutch due in feb too! my last for a while though hopefully! well yemens anyway...the females are on 6 month rest...apart from 2 but they are not in with any males and won't be for at least 3 months...

 

[ricmac]

I think we'll end up getting him another female if he carries on like this. He's always been friendly and comes out on his own terms, but now is even refusing locusts (not resisting the odd wax worm though).

When you say resting your females for six months. I assume you mean separating them. How often do you do this?

Bearing in mind the egg bound issue we had with our female's third clutch - would this have helped?

thanks again

ric

 

[BELIAL]

yeah they get split on cycles...have to in order for the females to recover..
the problem with breeding is that it takes a lot out of the female and she needs time to recover.

however if she is with a male she can be gravid in as little as 18 days..

without a male the chance of her being gravid so quickly is reduced..notice i say reduced.. the fact that they store viable sperm means that she may fertilise herself. but the critical thing id the timescale is usually a lot longer...

unfortunately in the wild females do not often live past their third clutch because it takes so much out of them. you very rarely see a female in the wild that is not gravid.

the same is true for captive yemens..if they are overworked producing eggs the body tends to give out on the second/third clutch. they need a decent period to recover.

for example 2 of my females have now produced succesive clutches and are now on a 6 month rest. the male needs a female at all times (cos he's a pain!) so he has one but after this second clutch she will be taken out and another female put in...sounds a bit military i know but it works...keeps everyone happy! apart from the stress it causes me!!

you have to bear in mind that females are breeding machines that is their soul purpose. this is why they are more outgoing, they eat more and are more active.

as for your male i would get him another female otherwise he could get very stressed. think they get quite sentimental! bet you that as soon as he gets a cagemate he chills...

 

[ricmac]

Thanks.
I just cleared out and re-set up the incubator with fresh vermiculite.

I counted 29 eggs for the feb clutch from the original 50.

regards





ric

 

[BELIAL]

at least there are some left...29 is better than 0! quite often you can lose about 10 eggs on average anyway...
lets hope the 29 are gooduns..