# INCUBATION WATER SOURCE



## ALDABRAMAN (Apr 3, 2011)

For those of us that have experience with egg incubation, does anyone know if it is better or have a preference to use distilled, drinking, tap, or any other kind of water in our incubators? I have heard alot of variations from many keepers, we use distilled water for the initial mixture and tap for the humidity control. Any and all opinions and experiences welcome!


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## onarock (Apr 3, 2011)

Great question Greg, I use R.O.water for everything. The water is here is really hard. It's something that I have always done, never thought about the benefits. I used to mix water with the vermiculite before placing the eggs, but eventually the vermiculite will start to dry, so I quit doing it. Now I just make sure the humidity stays above 75% and it seems to work just fine.


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## ALDABRAMAN (Apr 3, 2011)

Many folks do things so different and get good results. I never thought the water source ever made a difference, however I am thinking that this forum has alot of diversity here and was curious to other opinions and thouhts. I hope alot of feed back is presented here!



onarock said:


> Great question Greg, I use R.O.water for everything. The water is here is really hard. It's something that I have always done, never thought about the benefits. I used to mix water with the vermiculite before placing the eggs, but eventually the vermiculite will start to dry, so I quit doing it. Now I just make sure the humidity stays above 75% and it seems to work just fine.



Paul, you ever considered using rain water?


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## jackrat (Apr 3, 2011)

I use well water for the initial and for keeping the humidity up. Our water has a high calcium content. Don't know if it has any bearing on results,it's just what I do.


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## onarock (Apr 3, 2011)

When I think about it, I catch it to feed my tortoises, but never considered using for eggs. How about you Greg? I would like to hear from anyone who has.



ALDABRAMAN said:


> Many folks do things so different and get good results. I never thought the water source ever made a difference, however I am thinking that this forum has alot of diversity here and was curious to other opinions and thouhts. I hope alot of feed back is presented here!
> 
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> ...


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## kbaker (Apr 4, 2011)

I have only tried distilled water when the water can touch the egg. I have not tried anything else for this situation.

Now for adding water to the incubator to boost humidity, I have tried both distilled and tap water. I will continue to use distilled water because when I used tap water, it always grew something on the surface.


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## ALDABRAMAN (Apr 4, 2011)

onarock said:


> When I think about it, I catch it to feed my tortoises, but never considered using for eggs. How about you Greg? I would like to hear from anyone who has.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I have not, it was just an idea.


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## GBtortoises (Apr 4, 2011)

I have always used water directly out of the tap for my tortoise's drinking water, spraying, incubator medium and humidity with no negative results. My water is soft, unchlorinated and comes from 500 feet underground.

I would use distilled water if mine were chlorinated but I don't have that issue.


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## ALDABRAMAN (Apr 4, 2011)

GBtortoises said:


> I have always used water directly out of the tap for my tortoise's drinking water, spraying, incubator medium and humidity with no negative results. My water is soft, unchlorinated and comes from 500 feet underground.
> 
> I would use distilled water if mine were chlorinated but I don't have that issue.



Gosh, 500 feet! It should be the cleanest and most filtered water that you can get.


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## dmmj (Apr 4, 2011)

Since the water does not come into contact with the eggs, is it an issue? I mean water vapor does not carry with it the chemicals it may or may not have when it turns into water vapor.


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## Angi (Apr 4, 2011)

Even for a non breeder this is a very interesting subject. I was thinking oh tap water GROSS until dmmj's post and I remember learning about evaporated water in elementry school.


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## GBtortoises (Apr 4, 2011)

"Gosh, 500 feet! It should be the cleanest and most filtered water that you can get."

Well depths around here vary greatly. Due to differences in altitude, water could be hiding anywhere here underground! My nearest neighbors well, about an 1/8 of a mile away, is only about 65 feet deep!


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## kbaker (Apr 4, 2011)

dmmj said:


> Since the water does not come into contact with the eggs, is it an issue? I mean water vapor does not carry with it the chemicals it may or may not have when it turns into water vapor.



What you say is correct. The issue is whatever (fungus, mold, mildew,...) that does grow can become airbourne and spread through out the incubator.

Whether it really effects a healthy egg, I don't know, but I just rather avoid it.


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## Angi (Apr 4, 2011)

Back to tap water "Yuck!" For that matter then you would also need to make sure the cup and incubator were clean.


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## muddoc (Apr 5, 2011)

While I have very little experience in incubating turtle/tort eggs (I did incubate 4 Eastern Box Turtle eggs), I have incubated well over 1,000 snake eggs. Looking at Greg's picture, we incubate them very similarly, with the exception of having Perlite mixed in with our Vermiculite. In other words, the water that is mixed in with the incubating substrate does contact the egg directly. We have always used water directly from the tap (we do live rural and have a well, but I must say, it is only about 70 feet deep). Our water is low salinity and low in Calcium but is somewhat high in copper content. We have never had an issue that could be directly linked to the water used.

To comment on kbaker's last post, I reuse my incubating substrate from year to year, and have had very little issue with the spread of fungus or mildew. Again, my experience lies with snake eggs, but based on my knowledge, they are not all that different from tort and turtle eggs. From what I can deduce, the mildew or fungus is generally seen on eggs that are going bad for one reason or another. I have had snake eggs that die during incubation and are left attached to one or more good eggs. The fungus and mildew does not spread, as healthy eggs are naturally resisitent to it. However, we have been able to save snake eggs that were starting to go bad by adding a little human intervention. That in the way of applying Liquid Band-Aid to bad spots on eggs, after cleanning the spot with a paper towel. With that said, the Liquid Band-Aid we used to use is no longer available and we had to find another way to help prevent the spread of wet spots or fungal spots. We have since started using plain old Elmer's glue, applied to the bad spot, and letting it go past the edges of the bad spot about 1/16". I have also heard of many people applying foot powder to eggs that have started sweating.

With all of the above said, that is my experience with SNAKE eggs. I would like now to learn a bit about turtle/tort eggs if they differ greatly in incubation methods (I know they generally incubate for longer). I just wanted to share my experience to others that may be able to benefit from what I have seen over the years.

Great topic,


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