So this was rather spontaneous. A friend texted me about a king snake they had seen around a quail nest. She told me the mom had been gone for a little over a week and hadn't been back. I have a reptile incubator, and I looked it up to see if it would work for quail eggs. I went over to her house (keeping a safe distance since this is the first time I've been out in about a month) and now I've got 16 eggs. They had scared the snake away and hoped he didn't eat too many. We tried to tell if they were fertilized or still viable with a light, but it was hard to tell. Nevertheless, I set up the incubator. Hopefully, they are still viable and can hatch, but I'm not too sure what to expect. Since I'm home, I'll be able to turn them multiple times a day (thinking 9AM, 1PM, 5PM, and 9PM) and keep their temp around 99 with a humidity of 40-60%. If by day 15 they don't hatch, I'll be setting them on a flat tray to see if they hatch. If they don't after a couple of days, I'm probably going to assume they are unfertilized/beyond saving. Since I don't know exactly how old they are, or if abandoning for a week stunted their grown for a period, I can't tell when I should go into lockdown. I'm an absolute beginner at this, so if anyone has any experience please give me some advice!
By the way, the incubator was still warming up so it says its at 88. The humidity also stays in a 45-65% range since opening the incubator to turn the eggs really drops the humidity for about 30 mins. When I found the eggs, the temp was about 70 degrees. While its not quite high enough for eggs, they were really tucked away in the nest, and I have hope that some are still viable. This picture is from two days ago, and I have since moved the eggs to a carton and separated them based on which ones I think are fertile.
I candled the eggs and (based on the vids/pics I've seen) there are maybe 7 eggs that are fertilized. I'm new here, so maybe some experienced members can help me if I upload some photos.
I'm hoping to eventually turn any survivors over to a rescue, but I don't think they're operating due to COVID-19. Besides collecting these eggs, I've been self-isolating myself. In the meantime, I do have equipment I can use to make a brooder in the case that some hatch. Please let me know if you have any advice!
Thank you!
By the way, the incubator was still warming up so it says its at 88. The humidity also stays in a 45-65% range since opening the incubator to turn the eggs really drops the humidity for about 30 mins. When I found the eggs, the temp was about 70 degrees. While its not quite high enough for eggs, they were really tucked away in the nest, and I have hope that some are still viable. This picture is from two days ago, and I have since moved the eggs to a carton and separated them based on which ones I think are fertile.
I candled the eggs and (based on the vids/pics I've seen) there are maybe 7 eggs that are fertilized. I'm new here, so maybe some experienced members can help me if I upload some photos.
I'm hoping to eventually turn any survivors over to a rescue, but I don't think they're operating due to COVID-19. Besides collecting these eggs, I've been self-isolating myself. In the meantime, I do have equipment I can use to make a brooder in the case that some hatch. Please let me know if you have any advice!
Thank you!
