Quote:
Originally Posted by reptiledoc
How many people do you have helping you maintain and feed all these animals? There is No Way one person can do that all alone. (Is there?)
Do you cover your eggs with Paper Towels? Do you leave your Hatchlings in the Vermiculate after they hatch? It appears that you do. I always wondered if it increases their risk of getting the substrate all over them and in their mouth and nostrils.
Take Care.
Doc
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Right now we have three part time workers doing about 35 hours of work. They take care of the larger animals. The wife and I take care of the smaller ones that require a more gentle touch.
Yes, I cover the eggs entirely with vermiculite, then put a dampened paper towel over the vermiculite. I used to used ventilated lids on the shoe boxes but went to unventilated a few years back.
I change the paper towel when checking for dampness of the medium about half way through the incubation period. Then when I guestimate hatching is about a week away, I uncover the vermiculite from the eggs, and put another new dampened paper towel directly over the eggs. When they begin to hatch, I will put in a water dish and leave them there until they have all shed their skins for the first time. Then I sex them and set them all up in deli cups.
Never had a problem with them ingesting vermiculite or otherwise having problems with it. It is best to not have the vermiculite too damp as it can get them kind of messy and adhere to their skin. If I can't move them into deli cups right away because of the numbers that have hatched out, I will swap out the shoe box lid with a ventilated one to keep the humidity level inside from getting too high.