Too much calcium

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Posted by Ike420 on September 25, 2002 at 18:40:56:

In Reply to: Re: For those of you that breed cresteds... posted by Pauline on September 25, 2002 at 11:37:59:

When you treated her for the calcium defiency, you probably got used to giving her more than she needed, overcalcification of the eggs is a common but uncommonly adddressed problem in gecko breeding, but that would account for the full formation of the juveniles but failure to hatch.

:wow, you have a great success record...

:I guess there are a few possible problems- that I am already aware of..

:what confuses me though is what would cause the babies to have a problem with the actual hatching. Both the ones that have died in the shell were fully formed and cute as usual...

:The things I know were not good/or may have increased the possibility of problems:
:- it is my cresteds first season
:- the female (despite supplementation) had a calcium deficiency, which became obvious (slight twitching) when she was gravid with her second clutch. I treated this, and she recovered very quickly (within a week, or at least the twitching stopped within a week). My main concern was obviously for her health... I didnt think the eggs would be viable, but incubated them anyway.
:- the eggs were incubated on-shelve as my incubator was set for leo eggs (a bit too high), so there could have been fluctuations in temperature (but not that much), temps were probably 26-28, but mostly around 26.5-27
:- the eggs were knocked over at day 50 of incubation (the second clutch, of which one failed to hatch, the other is still incubating), my bad for letting the cat in! The first clutch of eggs were, however, not knocked over, and 1 of those died without hatching too.

:the eggs were incubated in moist (same way as I would for my leos) vermiculite in a waxworm tub. The top is covered with clingfilm (saran wrap) which was removed daily for air exchange, and to check that the vermiculite was still moist.. I added a little water twice in during incubation.

:The successful egg hatched at 54 days, which I thought was quite quick for a crested?
:The other one of that clutch failed, and did-so around the same time..
:The first egg of the second clutch failed overnight- at 55 days incubation.

:I realise I've made some mistakes, but would these have allowed the baby to become fully formed, and result only in a hatching problem?
:I guess the calcium deficiency could have a great effect?

:Well, I'd love some help, if you see any holes in my set-up, or just to confirm how significant the problems I pointed out could be..

:Thanks for any help,
:Pauline

Follow Ups:

Re: Too much calcium Pauline 09/26/02 (1)
- Re: Too much calcium Youkai 09/29/02 (0)