Jacinta laid eggs.

[etreal]

On July 18th I got Flash, a Leopard male with the intention of forming a breeding couple with Jacinta.

Today I found Jacinta digging a nest and laying at least two eggs.



I purchased a Hova-Bator 2 weeks ago, but didn’t try it, and now I have a lot of questions and I am beginning freaking out!

This is the set up I have:





First big question: How do I set or regulate the temperature? I have not been able to regulate the temperature. It stays at 82-84 or goes up to 100 or more. Any advice?

What is better to use? The cups with lids included, or a plastic box? The cups or box should be used with its lid?





Thank you very much for your help.

 

[jeff kushner]

Someone, we won't name names, was up all night? LOL

Congrats is in order!!

The talent wakes up a little later around here, but they will be here to help you, today! Relax, drink some more coffee, that always helps when we're trying to be patient!!


jeff

 

[Tom]

On July 18th I got Flash, a Leopard male with the intention of forming a breeding couple with Jacinta.

Today I found Jacinta digging a nest and laying at least two eggs.

View attachment 349303

I purchased a Hova-Bator 2 weeks ago, but didn’t try it, and now I have a lot of questions and I am beginning freaking out!

This is the set up I have:

View attachment 349306

View attachment 349307

First big question: How do I set or regulate the temperature? I have not been able to regulate the temperature. It stays at 82-84 or goes up to 100 or more. Any advice?

What is better to use? The cups with lids included, or a plastic box? The cups or box should be used with its lid?

View attachment 349304

View attachment 349305

Thank you very much for your help.

First, leave the eggs in the ground until your incubator is all set up. There is no rush. They can stay there for months.

Your media looks too wet. Did you do a ratio of 1 : 1 by weight?

I prefer to use plastic shoe boxes, but the tub you have looks okay if its not too shallow. The deli cups are probably too small for leopard eggs.

To set the incubator temp, try to pick a place in your house that has a fairly stable temperature. Next, you may as well throw all of those crappy thermometers in the garbage. None of them are accurate or reliable. Get two digital ones from the hardware store. Next, make small adjustments to the little adjustment lever and wait for several hours before adjusting again. It will help if you fill the water channels up with water and put the empty nest box into the incubator, all for heat inertia.

Next, go around with electrical tape and cover all those little holes all over the incubator, top and bottom. There is enough airflow between the two halves.

Once you get the temps steady, you can then go dig up the eggs and pop them in the incubator.

 

[etreal]

First, leave the eggs in the ground until your incubator is all set up. There is no rush. They can stay there for months.

Your media looks too wet. Did you do a ratio of 1 : 1 by weight?

I prefer to use plastic shoe boxes, but the tub you have looks okay if its not too shallow. The deli cups are probably too small for leopard eggs.

To set the incubator temp, try to pick a place in your house that has a fairly stable temperature. Next, you may as well throw all of those crappy thermometers in the garbage. None of them are accurate or reliable. Get two digital ones from the hardware store. Next, make small adjustments to the little adjustment lever and wait for several hours before adjusting again. It will help if you fill the water channels up with water and put the empty nest box into the incubator, all for heat inertia.

Next, go around with electrical tape and cover all those little holes all over the incubator, top and bottom. There is enough airflow between the two halves.

Once you get the temps steady, you can then go dig up the eggs and pop them in the incubator

Someone, we won't name names, was up all night? LOL

Congrats is in order!!

The talent wakes up a little later around here, but they will be here to help you, today! Relax, drink some more coffee, that always helps when we're trying to be patient!!


jeff

Jeff:

I was fighting with the incubator till 3 am; but finally I was able to understand how this thing works!!!
Thanks and best regards.

 

[etreal]

First, leave the eggs in the ground until your incubator is all set up. There is no rush. They can stay there for months.

Your media looks too wet. Did you do a ratio of 1 : 1 by weight?

I prefer to use plastic shoe boxes, but the tub you have looks okay if its not too shallow. The deli cups are probably too small for leopard eggs.

To set the incubator temp, try to pick a place in your house that has a fairly stable temperature. Next, you may as well throw all of those crappy thermometers in the garbage. None of them are accurate or reliable. Get two digital ones from the hardware store. Next, make small adjustments to the little adjustment lever and wait for several hours before adjusting again. It will help if you fill the water channels up with water and put the empty nest box into the incubator, all for heat inertia.

Next, go around with electrical tape and cover all those little holes all over the incubator, top and bottom. There is enough airflow between the two halves.

Once you get the temps steady, you can then go dig up the eggs and pop them in the incubator.

Tom:


Thank you very much for your kind reply and advice. Finally, yesterday I understood how to set the incubator and it has been steady at 87-88 °f and 77-83% moisture since 3 am today. Are those values ok?


I did used a 1:1 ratio substrate/water and bought 2 new thermometer/hygrometer. If everything keeps stable tomorrow, I will dig out the eggs.



Some facts I noticed and think are interesting to share are:



This is the first time Jacinta is laying eggs. She is 22 years old and never laid eggs before. Also, this is first time she is mating.

Before digging this nest, she laid 3 pairs of soft-shelled eggs in the floor, without even trying to dig. She broke all of them. This is interesting because there are some reports of this situation in the forum and it looks like they are of first timers.

After laying the eggs and covering the nest, she went directly for a HUGE drink. She spent double the normal time drinking water.



I will keep you posted and again thank you very much.

 

[Tom]

Tom:


Thank you very much for your kind reply and advice. Finally, yesterday I understood how to set the incubator and it has been steady at 87-88 °f and 77-83% moisture since 3 am today. Are those values ok?


I did used a 1:1 ratio substrate/water and bought 2 new thermometer/hygrometer. If everything keeps stable tomorrow, I will dig out the eggs.



Some facts I noticed and think are interesting to share are:



This is the first time Jacinta is laying eggs. She is 22 years old and never laid eggs before. Also, this is first time she is mating.

Before digging this nest, she laid 3 pairs of soft-shelled eggs in the floor, without even trying to dig. She broke all of them. This is interesting because there are some reports of this situation in the forum and it looks like they are of first timers.

After laying the eggs and covering the nest, she went directly for a HUGE drink. She spent double the normal time drinking water.



I will keep you posted and again thank you very much.

What you are seeing is all normal. Its normal for them to not lay eggs if no male is present, even for decades.

Its normal for first time moms to drop soft shelled eggs, egg material, and broken eggs at the surface. I call this "priming the pump". It is the female's body getting geared up for egg production. Once all systems are up and running and on-line, then they dig the hole, deposit the eggs, and cover it all up like a pro.

As you can see in your pics, they dump their water reserves while making a nest, and its great for them to take a big drink afterward. I make it a policy to give egg laying females a nice long soak the day after laying, and I also make it a point to feed them some opuntia, or romaine, and also spray the food with water for a few days after a nest is made. I doubt all this extra care is "necessary", but I feel like it is beneficial and its a way that I can help do my part in keeping them healthy and hydrated.

I hope you get babies! If not, you probably will on round two. My SA leopards laid eggs from about May through November. Another clutch every 3-4 weeks. If yours is on a similar schedule, you should have more eggs in about a month.

 

[etreal]

Finally everything was set up and I dug out the eggs. There were two, as I expected after watching Jacinta laying them. For my surprise they are not round but very “elongated”.




The nest was just about 20 to 25 cm deep.



This is the final set up, I really hope everything will be ok.






Can anyone please confirm me that 87-88 f and 80% humidity are Ok?

Best regards.
Eugenio.

 

[Yvonne G]

Good luck, Eugenio! Let's hope we'll be seeing a couple little babies peeking their heads out in about three months! You humidity and temperatures seem fine to me.

 

[etreal]

Hi everyone:

13 days ago Jacinta laid 2 eggs. Today they look like this. I suppose this is “chalking” (clearer on the right hand side egg, but also present on the other one) am I correct?

Is chalking a sure sign of fertility?

Thanks and best regards.

 

[etreal]

I just want to update what is going on with Jacinta.



As mentioned, her first clutch was laid on August 28th. There were 2 eggs that by now have spent 50 days in the incubator. One of them already chalked completely and is showing what looks like blood veins inside.

The second one may be not fertile. It did not chalk the same way, and candling it looks like 1/3 of it is empty. Any advice or idea?



3 weeks and 2 day later (September 21) Jacinta laid a second time. This time it was just 1 egg and either it was already broken, or I broke it while digging it. I am inclined to think it was the later because I was extremely careful while digging, but you never know.



Yesterday I saw her starting to dig a new nest, so I was able to catch all the eggs. For my surprise she laid 14 very nice much more rounded eggs!!!



Something that caught my attention is that she has dug in the same spot the 3 times. So I am afraid that if the previous clutched have been there and not removed she may have destroyed them.



So, let’s see how this keep going. I will keep you posted.

 

[etreal]

Pic of the 2 first laid eggs and the new 14 !