Egg Deposition and Recovery

Egg Laying

I set up my females on moist sphagnum moss. I swap out their Sani-chips for the moss once she sheds. Once a female sheds, that means she should lay her clutch in the next 10 days. Sometimes it's on day 5 and sometimes it's on day 12 but soon after she sheds you will see eggs if she has a clutch. During the wait, I check on her every day and if the moss starts to dry out I spray it down with water to keep it moist. Once it’s time she will start laying her clutch, it is best not to disturb her too much during this time. Check every couple hours to see her progress but otherwise let her finish before disrupting her too much. Sometimes females can be done laying within a few hours, others take 12 hours or longer to drop their entire clutch. I have had some females only lay 1 egg an hour and have 18 eggs so it varies. Be sure that she is finished laying before disturbing her. It should be pretty obvious by the way the female looks once they are finished laying. Her back end will look much flatter and there shouldn’t be any more bulges down by her vent. Once she is finished I gently move her off the eggs and place her back into a clean cage and now you can get the eggs set up for incubation.