African Fat-Tail Egg Incubation....

[Crackster69]

I am in need of someone to point me in the right direction.... I wasn't Planning on breeding my Fat-Tails yet, after losing one of my fav Geckos... But Last night I noticed 1 egg half burried in the sand. The egg was perfectly oval with no dents (All The previous eggs I have found had dents in them). So I took 2 rubber made containers and one inside of the other, One had a pan of water and a oven rack on top of the water. Then I placed my egg in a deli cup with moist vermiculite and put it on the rack. I am using an incandesent lamp to provide heat. the temp is 86oF

I woke up this morning and notice the egg started to dent in, Is this a sign the egg is drying up??? if so what can I do... If anything??

dose anyone know of any good websites on building an incubator Or dose anyone have a plan for a small incubator ??? I looked at buying one but they are very expencive (4 chicken eggs $140.00). So I wanted to make one??Any ideas ????

What should the humidity be in my incubator???
Is 86oF a good Temp to incubate my eggs at???
How long dose it take for the fat-Tail eggs to Hatch???
When Incubating shoud the egg be completly covered by the Vermiculite???
Is it normal for a African Fat-Tail to lay only ONE EGG, insted of the two eggs I got Before? I read some where that it varys between 1-2 eggs per clutch and up to 7 clutches in a breeding season??

Anyone I need some advice! Plaese!

[addsig]

[Joltman]

to start off wioth I am noo expert at these what so ever. These are things that I have heard and do not know if they are fact or fiction. I think they leaftail gecko lays their eggs in the suspended mode, like on th\op off a plan. so I think you need to set up a incubation staion with something like toothpicks, to suspend them in the air. they incubators they use for chickens will not work they incubate at much to high of a temperature. I believe they incubate at 140 and you only need about 84. now once again this is only what I have heard I am just learning my geckos so before you institute anything I say in this area check around with others here first!!!!!!!
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[Crackster69]

If I'm not mistaken a chick incubator can be calibrated to what ever temp you desire all U have to do is set the dial and let it warm up for a few days b4 hand and check the temp, and adjust acordingly.

My gecko's are African Fat-Tailed Gecko's and they dig and bury their eggs, never have I herd of them suspending them. As for suspending eggs, I think that is more the areobal species EG:Marbled Geckos-Mine layed eggs last year, and the stuck them to the top corner of the glass cage. I tryed to remover them but the we fixed very good to the side of the cage and broke when I applyed too much force.

The 85 temp will produce a majority of mxed male/female, below 85-below will produce mostly females and above 85 mostly males, If I am not mistaken. The one thing is I have looked every where but nowhere dose it say anything about humidity...\

ANYONE what is a good HUMIDITY to incubate my Fat-tails at, I keep having the problem of them drying out.......?Plans for a homemade incubator??

Well my egg dryed up very quickly even though I misted regulary, so I'll have to try again next time..

Joltman-Thanks for trying to help! If U find anything on African Fat-Tail humidity i would love to hear it!
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[karibou]

OK, first of all relax! Incubating Fat Tail eggs is easy, its getting fertile eggs that's the hard part LOL, but that's a whole other topic. You'll want to get your incubation humidity up to 80-85% some people will tell you higher than that, but ours averages around 83% and we've never had problems. If your egg is starting to dent, you need to raise the humidity. Add some more warm water to the incubation substrate, in your case the vermiculite, but be careful NOT to get ANY water on the eggs, you can drown the embryos. Our incubator is a standard chicken hovobator, you can get them pretty cheap on e-bay and at farm supply stores. We use the model with a fan, which doesnt cause any problems as all our eggs are in covered containers. Its also not unusual for females to lay a single egg, especially if its her first time breeding. Eggs incubated around 85 degrees hatch on average in 55 days. Good Luck!

Kara

Ps. If you click the link in my sig to our website, i have a care sheet for AFTs its very general, but at the bottom of it are links to more websites for AFTs, and if i remember correctly one of them has an extensive section on breeding.
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[Crackster69]

Karibou- So in the care sheet it says that 1st year Fat-Tails usualy don't lay fertile eggs, so any attempt would be useless this year(Being their first season)?


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[sartori]

>>Karibou- So in the care sheet it says that 1st year Fat-Tails usualy don't lay fertile eggs, so any attempt would be useless this year(Being their first season)?
>>
>>

thats not the rule... there are exceptions to every rule.. all my first year breeders have produced viable eggs.. alot of it depends on your male.. and if he got things "taken care of" or not..

you should be able to candle the egg (just like a chicken egg).. get a small mini mag-light.. and place it up to the egg (touching.. careful no to roll the egg on its axis or you'll drown the embryo).. if its viable you will see veins (red lines).. if its not.. it will have no veins and be a light yellow color..

you'll know within the first 3 weeks if the eggs are viable.. infertile eggs go soft and smelly and rot out usually within 2 weeks from laying.. while viable eggs stay turgid and have the developing embryo inside..

goodluck

dan

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