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Incubator disaster

T

tbtusk

hot jupiter herps
Well this really sucks. I'd been in a great mood all day until this. Hey, tomorrow I am going to start my college tours of with Harvard. Pretty exciting IMO

I was going to bed maybe an hour ago and decided, why not, I'll just check the eggs one last time to see if they had started pipping. They are due to hatch anytime in the next two weeks. I opened the incubator and felt a blast of heat. It was nearly 130 F in there! I pulled out the eggs and did everything I could to cool them down. I've been using a bit of a makeshift incubator this year with the thermostats probe in the egg box and when I had last put the egg box back the probe must have fallen out. It was lying on the floor next to the incubator.

Its not that this had been the most exciting clutch, or that I've lost all hope - they are back in the incubator properly now and I'll be checking them to see how they look in the next few days - but this is a real downer. What worries me is that I think the last time I had been down to look at the eggs had been 6 hours earlier...


Thanks for reading. I feel pretty crappy about this whole thing. I'll update you guys in the next few days
 
Really sorry for ya, man. I HOPE they'll be fine, but 6 hours... IDK.

Hopefully they make it and it JUST barely got that hot when you checked.

Let us know...
 
I'm sorry...I didn't even want to read this, but then I thought, well, maybe I'll learn something that will prevent an accident when I have eggs. So, there's that. I'm really sorry.
 
Couldn't you set up an incubator with a back-up on/off thermostat, like how I have my racks set up? They scare the crap out of me, too!
 
OMG deja vu! I had an incubator mishap last year and lost a lot of clutches so I know that sick feeling you get in the pit of your stomach. I hope they weren't actually at high temps for all 6 hours. Maybe there is hope. Please keep us posted as to how this turns out. Good luck on the Harvard tour too.
Terri
 
Thanks so much everyone for the replies. Its not looking good at the moment, but its still a little early to tell for sure how the eggs are doing.

Nanci - this was mostly my own stupidity I think. I had the thermostat probe taped in last year, but after a clutch went bad in this fridge - turned incubator (it turned out the mother was having trouble that year) I decided to be a little more careful, since the tape hadn't held up too well. Thats why I had the thermostat probe in the box, and hence why it was able to fall out. I should have thought that through. So i guess at least one lesson is make sure there is NO WAY your thermostat probe could fall out. I'll have in attached firmly inside the incubator next year.
 
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I don't use an incubator--keep the eggs in a warm room (not hot) where my GTPs are housed. No problems hatching, so maybe that is an option for you? Throw the incubator out, man!
 
I dont think thats an option for me, but I'll set up some temp probes in likely spots next year ans see what I get for highs and lows. The reason im hesitant is that up here over night in april and may I'm not sure it will stay warm enough. Over night they would get a bit chilly.
 
Turner, I am just reading this and I am so sorry. Accidents happen. Try not to beat yourself up about it. If I have the morph you were trying to produce let me know and I'll get it to you in Portland.
 
tbtusk said:
I dont think thats an option for me, but I'll set up some temp probes in likely spots next year ans see what I get for highs and lows. The reason im hesitant is that up here over night in april and may I'm not sure it will stay warm enough. Over night they would get a bit chilly.
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Sure, I understand--we lived in MA for a number of years. I use a small portable heater; the kind with a thermostat is best, but as long as you can adjust the temperature, should work to keep a room at a relatively constant temperature. Some variable temps are OK. My room is kept around 80F +/- a few degrees.

At least it's an option to consider trying. I am so sorry about your clutch, best of luck next time.
 
jodu said:
Turner, I am just reading this and I am so sorry. Accidents happen. Try not to beat yourself up about it. If I have the morph you were trying to produce let me know and I'll get it to you in Portland.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for the offer Joanna! (i tried to give you rep, but I must spread some more around before giving rep to jodu again!) Actually the big clutch this season, which had all my project snakes in it, already hatched, thank god.

This one was actually a partially unplanned clutch. The male was not taking with the female I had planned, and I put him in with the mother of this clutch to see if it was him, since he had never been bred while in my care. Guess it wasn't.
 
ok it looks like the eggs are gone. They are getting gray spots, which I have never seen before, but they definitely do not look good. I havent carefully checked the pile for a good one or two that might be left. I may do that later this week.

Thanks to everyone for the replies and ideas. Guess I've learned my lesson for next year, which is now going to be a sudden jump from 1 clutch to as many as four.
 
Do not use an incubator, I do not know if I have ever heard of a clutch getting too cold, but I have heard many stories like yours where a clutch got too hot. Sorry for your loss, but incubators are not necessary for colubrid eggs.
 
mike17l said:
Do not use an incubator, I do not know if I have ever heard of a clutch getting too cold, but I have heard many stories like yours where a clutch got too hot. Sorry for your loss, but incubators are not necessary for colubrid eggs.
Click to expand...
What would hatch time be at 67*F? :sidestep:

;)
D80
 
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