I just got into cresteds and got about 14 eggs late in the season from first year females one hatched and didn't make it 24hrs, a few others full term didn't make it out of the egg, some even peeped the egg and thats it. I know first year females have trouble producing healthy babies, another thought I was giving to much calcium making the shell thicker and harder for them to peep. If you have any other thoughts on what I can tweek to have a successful year next season.
Thanks!

My females started laying right away and I incubated at room temp which the room stays at a constant 78 degrees plus or minus 2 degrees at night.

I only had one go full term and not hatch.

Sounds more like incubation because after the first couple clutches a female is usually good at laying. for the female make sure she has good calcium..check the sacks by getting her to open the mouth.

for incubation are you using an incubator t a certian temp? what are using as the incubation medium? what the humidity of the medium/egg tub?

maybe we can see if its the incubation. If we find its not it just might not be right time for the female yet and can try switching the male and see if that changes anything.

I dont keep crested but I have hatched my share of lizards and Ive experienced what you are experiencing before. Bear in mind Ive never hatced crested but I do think lizard eggs are somewhate similar across the board. Some are harder than others to hatch but the basics are there.

I agree with E-pig it sounds more like an incubation problem than a female problem. Personally Ive never heard of too much calcium making the egg shells too hard. Perhaps others have but not I.

When lizards go full term and fail to pip or pip and dont make it out of the egg its often due to the incubation medium being too wet. They drown in there or something else goes wrong and they dont have the strength to make it out. Have you noticed your eggs becoming turgid? Meaning tense, like overinflated beach balls. I would take a look at your incubation medium. I was using 1 part water to 1 part perlite by weight and I had the same problem you're having. I switched to 10 parts perlite to 8 parts water and the problem disappeared. Its actually a little less than that. Closer to 7 parts water but you get the idea. Adding too much water to the incubation medium is a common mistake. One I made myself.

Just a thought.

Well to solve the calcium question what are you feeding them?

Well I was using repti-cal, but Anthony(acreptiles) was the one that said that it might be too much calcium w/ crickets and CGD. The calcium sacks are good, incubating at 75-78. I'm using perlite as medium and like 400g perlite/100g water. Well I have few more eggs, maybe I'll remix and put the eggs in a fresh medium.

- I didn't get more then two clutches from each female. Thanks for the suggestions, I'll be double checking everything if there is anything else let me know.

Thanks everyone!

So you were feeding CGD and dusted crickets? If you were then that maybe the problem...

Well I was using repti-cal, but Anthony(acreptiles) was the one that said that it might be too much calcium w/ crickets and CGD. The calcium sacks are good, incubating at 75-78. I'm using perlite as medium and like 400g perlite/100g water. Well I have few more eggs, maybe I'll remix and put the eggs in a fresh medium.

everything seems okay with that except the perlite to water ratio.
i work a little closer to varanus's suggested mix, except with vermiculite.
keep tweakin' you'll get it.
as far as post hatch, make sure you pull from the hatch medium asap.
they supposedly can shed within hours of hatch, this can be a problem if perlite sticks to the skin and is ingested, compaction will kill those little suckers no time.
good luck,
ck

So maybe work on little bit dryer medium?..

Thanks!