Shipping of eggs - need help, what went wrong?

[vistajpdf]

A fellow member here was kind enough to take some eggs off of my hands. I used the "water bottle" shipping method using priority mail. I filled the bottle as much as I could and put in the pieces of fake plants in which the mother C. Orientalis had laid her eggs. I put in about 15-20 eggs I'd guess. They were shipped on a Tues. and arrived on that Thurs. The receiver said the packaging looked good - styrofoam encased the water bottle and a cool pack and no damage was noticed.

Anyway, it's around the time I'd be expecting these babies to hatch and he said that only a few seem to be developing at all. Here (S. Florida), I've done next to nothing to aid in the eggs' development. The receiver has been doing water changes and everything, has them in a cool basement (62 degrees) while mine here were on the upper level of acceptable water temps around 70-72 and I did no water changes until he mentioned it and I reread the Caudata Culture article. So, all of my first 45 larvae hatched and are OK despite all of this. We can't imagine what has gone wrong. I have to believe it was possibly the heat here in the P.O. or en route, though the area of destination had much milder temps, around the low-mid 60's.

I would like to try again and thought about using the other method to ship - the plastic baggie, putting eggs on wet paper towels. It seems riskier to me - like there's more chance to dry out, get smashed or something. I have a few more new eggs to ship. The egg that was laid the day I shipped the first batch out is clearly a newtpole inside the egg sac, though not yet blackened and obviously still not hatched. I don't believe the eggs that were shipped are progressing as such. The cool pack that was bought by my husband was the kind you just squeeze and hear a popping sound, so I think it's more for an immediate injury and not as long lasting as the blue types that I will buy for a second delivery.

I'd appreciate any advice. I will ship overnight if need be - but please give any insight as to what happened and how to prevent it again. We hope his lower temps have just slowed the eggs' development, but we're losing a little hope as the days go by...

Thanks,
Dana

 

[Azhael]

As mentioned, at lower temps, eggs develop slower....so there´s a chance that some eggs are ok...just developing slow. If the eggs are not developing fungus, i´d say they are fine.
The best method for me is the cd-case and paper towels one. It sounded mental when i first heard of it, but it works amazingly well.

 

[vistajpdf]

I think I am referring to the CD case and not the baggie. I'll refresh my (failing!) memory before implementing the system! I think the case would give me more comfort than a ziplock bag. So, you've had good luck with the hatchling rate with this? Do you think the Florida heat wave would damage the batch for that first day? Not sure how else to cool them. I would think that the egg stage would be the most resistant to temperatures - is that correct?

Dana

 

[merk199]

I am thinking of pulling the unviable egss that have shown no growth. The ones that have promise I am thinking about moving into the house proper for warmth....We'll see I hate to be inpatient.

 

[vistajpdf]

I will try again with the CD case. My question on this method is do I still snip the plants and put them on the paper towels? I'm afraid I couldnt' get them off w/o tearing the sac...I will saturate the paper towels but wonder if the case alone will hold the moisture necessary or if I should then place it in a plastic bag of some sort?

Dana

 

[Azhael]

When i used that method i put the case inside a zip-lock bag. You can put plant portions but they should be as small as possible. Separating the eggs from the plants can be done, but it has to be done carefully. I find the "younger" the egg, the less likely to break.
Just make sure the eggs are in contact with the moist paper towels in the cd-case, they´ll be fine.

As bongus as this method may look at first sight it really works brilliantly well. The eggs i sent had a 100% success rate.