First egg for my Russian

[qiangzhu]

Is there a way to find if the egg is fertilized or not? And is there any suggestion to store the egg (like temperature) so it will not get damaged before I get an incubator?

And any incubators to recommend?

Thanks a lot

 

[qiangzhu]

I currently bury it into the tortoise coconut soil and use two uva lights above it to keep relative good temperature. Not sure it is ok or not.

 

[DoubleD1996!]

About 86 degrees. You want to make sure the incubation medium is famp, but not wet.Hovabator works great. And eggs are fertil when they start to chalk. It's like it gets bright white. Also, if you candle the eggs in a dark room you can see a red dot. That's the embryo. Then a network of veins start to develop. Candling is simply shining a light on the egg until you see the red embryo. You want to make sure the embryo is face up so it doesn't drown in the yolk. It takes 24 hrs for the embryo to adhere to the top of the egg so it's safe to move the egg for the first few hours without worry. If the female has never been with a male, it's more than likely not fertile, but there is a such thing as parthenogenesis, which is virgin birth. Best thing to do is wait till the eggs stinks if you think it's not fertil. Sometimes things take time to show up.

 

[qiangzhu]

About 86 degrees. You want to make sure the incubation medium is famp, but not wet.Hovabator works great. And eggs are fertil when they start to chalk. It's like it gets bright white. Also, if you candle the eggs in a dark room you can see a red dot. That's the embryo. Then a network of veins start to develop. Candling is simply shining a light on the egg until you see the red embryo. You want to make sure the embryo is face up so it doesn't drown in the yolk. It takes 24 hrs for the embryo to adhere to the top of the egg so it's safe to move the egg for the first few hours without worry. If the female has never been with a male, it's more than likely not fertile, but there is a such thing as parthenogenesis, which is virgin birth. Best thing to do is wait till the eggs stinks if you think it's not fertil. Sometimes things take time to show up.

I just ordered the incubator. Before My incubator arrives, how should I store it? Or it doesn’t matter?

 

[DoubleD1996!]

I just ordered the incubator. Before My incubator arrives, how should I store it? Or it doesn’t matter?

The best thing you can do for now is put it in some kind of deli cup or storage container with damp substrate(not wet but clumps together when you squeeze it in hand and no water comes out, vermiculite works best). Maybe poke a hole in it for ventilation. If you have a heat mat, you could rest it on top, but you want to make sure it's not over the 87 degrees. So maybe attach it to a thermostat if you have one. If you could find a warm spot in your home that stays a consistent temperature that could work, but fluctuations are normal during incubation so I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[qiangzhu]

The best thing you can do for now is put it in some kind of deli cup or storage container with damp substrate(not wet but clumps together when you squeeze it in hand and no water comes out, vermiculite works best). Maybe poke a hole in it for ventilation. If you have a heat mat, you could rest it on top, but you want to make sure it's not over the 87 degrees. So maybe attach it to a thermostat if you have one. If you could find a warm spot in your home that stays a consistent temperature that could work, but fluctuations are normal during incubation so I wouldn't worry too much.

I got my incubator and put the egg in the incubator. It is already 48 hours. I opened the incubator just now. Is the egg chalked? Western Washington state is always cloudy and rainy these days so I turned on a bulb lamp in my room so the color may be a little yellow. By the way. I don’t see any red dot in the egg by lighting it so I just choose a random side to face up.

 

[DoubleD1996!]

I got my incubator and put the egg in the incubator. It is already 48 hours. I opened the incubator just now. Is the egg chalked? Western Washington state is always cloudy and rainy these days so I turned on a bulb lamp in my room so the color may be a little yellow. By the way. I don’t see any red dot in the egg by lighting it so I just choose a random side to face up. View attachment 339918

It may be infertile, but the best thing to do would be to leave it until it stinks.

 

[Brehdy]

It may be infertile, but the best thing to do would be to leave it until it stinks.

I'll second this. I found two clutches of Russian eggs last fall (5 total eggs). 4 showed immediate signs of fertility and hatched early Jan, 2022. There was nothing happening with the last egg until a couple weeks after the others hatched, when I candled again and could see that it was developing. Good lesson in patience.