Well, the hatchlings didn’t make it.
One died in the shell – we think it was stuck to the shell and couldn’t get loose, as the second one was definitely stuck to the shell – we helped him, though.
The second one made it out of the shell (with help – I know, you’re never supposed to help them, but it’d been 24 hours already and he was gonna die if we did nothing, so we figured it was worth a shot) and seemed to take forever to dry off and get going. He was cheeping loudly, though, and seemed very determined to live …
… until he drowned in the water dish.
Duh! We knew that could happen, but he was so slow to get up and moving that we just didn’t register that all of a sudden he *would* be up and moving and the dish was right there. Poor guy.
None of the other eggs show any signs of hatching, so we figure that given how many troubles we had sorting things out in our first run, probably no more will hatch … but we’ll give it until tomorrow to see.
The Reluctant Farmer is already investigating some modifications to the Eggabator to make it more successful next round – and we’ll be sure to take the water dish out at hatching time!
Hmm, maybe a sponge would work …
Marbles work well in the water dish to keep them from drowning.
ReplyDeleteI have helped a few out. I think in the 'bator they get dryer and sometimes you have to intervene. So far it's worked out well.