Incubator of death

[shiloh2768]

I have no theories......just wanted to say how sorry I am this happened. Poor buggers

 

[Nagraj]

..... they are a completely non related pair.

Well that doesn't specifically rule it out, especially as you bought locale animals and you don't know the lineage but granted it does make it less likely.

 

[waruikazi]

I would still assume it was a problem with most likely the lungs.

 

[scorps]

Well so far a lot of unsubstantiated theories so I'll throw in another one but which is more probable given the visual clues that nothing looks wrong.

I'm going to say they have a genetic defect due to in-breeding and it's possibly a respiratory system fault which only presents when they are forced to breathe.

Wow a inbreeding theory, I thought there had been a few tests done with reptiles saying inbreeding doesn't really affect reps.

 

[wokka]

The fact that two survived suggests to me that it is likely to be a genetic problem rather than an environmental one.

 

[Sdaji]

The fact that two survived suggests to me that it is likely to be a genetic problem rather than an environmental one.

That's funny, I'd have put it the other way around If it was two out of seven which died I'd be more inclined to suspect it was something genetic. Given how genetically robust reptiles tend to be, it seems unlikely that some hidden genetic problem could somehow pop out suddenly and kill most of a clutch, although, stranger things have happened.

I'd be suspecting an environmental problem. My guess is that there was some problem which didn't have an affect until the babies were out of the egg. When an animal goes from being inside an egg to outside an egg, many new physiological processes are used for the first time. Also, many new genes are used for the first time, and it is possible for genetic issues to kick in an suddenly kill animals which were perfectly healthy in the egg, but for it to affect most of a clutch of reptiles is extremely unusual and unlikely.

Sometimes babies hatch and die soon afterwards, it's not too unusual, but generally this is because incubation was imperfect with the result of weaker babies. They're strong enough to live inside a nice comfy egg, but when forced to deal with the outside world they can't cope. That doesn't seem like what has happened as usually in such cases a proportion of the eggs don't hatch at all and often some die during incubation.

Sorry to hear about what happened, but hey, two babies are better than none

 

[AUSGECKO]

Update

Hey guys and girls,
Thanks everyone for your input.
This morning before i left for work i noticed that out of the three remaining eggs another one had pipped itself so i ended up pipping the remaining two and i checked them ten minutes later and noticed an additional cut in one of the eggs that i didn`t put there and wasn`t there when i pipped them.
I got my G/F to check on them every couple of hours and she noticed the one that i didn`t pip had left the egg. I got a phone call from her crying because she decided to take the hatchie out and put it in a seperate tub and it kept striking her! :lol: I thought yeah right (the other ones were placid) It was probably just moving! but when i got home and checked it out.... Holy crap this thing has the attitude of a typical black and gold jungle!! probably from being dropped on the floor a couple of times!! Apart from that the Cranky ***** is in great condition....... And so is the snake :lol:.
The incubation tub smelt pretty funky by the time i got home with all them rotting egg shells in there so i removed the last two eggs with babys inside and put them in their own chineese containers on wet paper towel and they are looking good so far .

 

[Sdaji]

Ah, I thought five of seven had died. Let us know how many are alive and well once they're all out and a day or two old

 

[inthegrass]

even though we incubate eggs in what can seem to us the temps etc, sometimes nature does its bit.
we had a couple of very hot days up here and i had to turn the incubator off and put fans on to cool things down. will have to see if it causes any probs.

 

[AUSGECKO]

Good luck with yours inthegrass. 3 out and 2with heads out of the eggs still but i guess I`ll have a better idea in the morning, Sometimes things are just not meant to be and you have to put it down to **** happens.

 

[Nagraj]

... I thought there had been a few tests done with reptiles saying inbreeding doesn't really affect reps.

I have previously posted evidence that it does affect reptiles and have never seen verifiable evidence that it doesn't.

 

[AUSGECKO]

Update

There are now 5 happy little hatchlings out of 7, the last 2 came out of their eggs today, they are all looking good so far but we will see what happens over the next few weeks

 

[mrillusion]

ive never breed b4 but just throwing this in the basket but what about oxygen maybe they didnt have enough oxygen to breath.

 

[4orce]

On the photo there appears to be some sort of growth in the top and bottom right corners, it's long and almost like spag mixed in with the vermiculite. Is there any chance that the substrate you used got contaminated?...

Just another idea in the ring.

 

[Sdaji]

Ah, well that is quite consistent with Wokka's idea. It's still not my guess, but it's entirely possible. If you breed the same pair again next year keep us posted with the results. If it's similar again I'll be content to say Wokka was probably right.

Five out of seven is pretty good Well done! Congratulations

 

[Noongato]

Things dont have to be imbred to have genetic problems, theres still the possibility that both parents carry a certain gene that creates a deformity in the young. If it happens again next breeding time, be best to pair them up with different partners i would think.

 

[Sdaji]

Things dont have to be imbred to have genetic problems, theres still the possibility that both parents carry a certain gene that creates a deformity in the young. If it happens again next breeding time, be best to pair them up with different partners i would think.

Absolutely right, they don't need to be closely related to have genetic issues popping up. If it happens again, best not to breed either again, at all, I think.

 

[AUSGECKO]

Thanks guys! The spag moss in the corner of the incubator tub was just a little experiment i was doing