First time hatching

[AleeJ]

Hi I’m Alee, and about 40 days ago, in an alley in downtown Denver Colorado, I came across three young boys, who were smashing some large looking eggs that resembled avocados with sledgehammers (I later learned they were emu eggs)
After scolding the boys and chasing them off much to my dismay, I noticed that all of the eggs had embryos that were developing in them (what seemed to be very early early stages of development)…
There was only one egg left untouched, and me being the bleeding heart and animal lover that I am, I decided that, even though the chances were slimmed and none of it hatching, I was gonna give it a go. The main problem being that up until recently I was homeless just me and my bearded dragon. I’m on disability and I don’t have the money for an incubator so gauging by the information I found online about the temperatures that they needed to be at. I have actually been keeping this egg in my bearded dragon Diego’s terrarium, in between the hot and the cool side, where the temperatures range around 96 to 98°. (lol I got to tell you, Diego is not thrilled about sharing his tank with this giant green rock looking thing that mom will not let him climb on… I keep a tiny organization crate that I picked up at the dollar tree over top of it so he cannot climb on it) I’ve been tracking how long I’ve had the egg and it’s been 40 days now, it leans to one end when I put it on a flat surface, if I remove it from the heat, it does have a spot where it retains the heat, even when the rest of it cools down, but I can’t tell if it’s wiggling or if I’m just seeing things from staring at it for too long… does anybody have any advice for me? Diego and I have been through hell and back the last year that I was homeless I had him and trying to get a bearded dragon through a winter in Colorado in a tent was not easy, but I did it. And now people are telling me there’s no way that I can hatch this egg, but I really want to do it. Any advice on how to check if the baby inside is alive would be very awesome and appreciated.

Also, Diego and I now live in an apartment on housing assistance, we most definitely cannot keep an emu here… so if anyone has any advice on where I could take it after it hatches… hopefully it hatches… that would be greatly appreciated as well!

Thanks again for taking the time to read my post and for offering any advice and positive encouragement that you may have….

Please, if you don’t have anything positive to say or nice to say just keep scrolling because I’ve had enough negative in my life up to this point and I don’t need anymore.
(Realism and negativity are two different things, remember that, and let’s all be adults here, please)

Best regards,
Alee and Diego,
Denver, CO, USA

 

[pennyJo1960]

Welcome to BYC that was a great introduction. This is a great place to explore and hang out. Your not homeless anymore?

 

[janiedoe]

Welcome to BYC, Alee. I don't know how long emu eggs incubate.

 

[AleeJ]

Welcome to BYC that was a great introduction. This is a great place to explore and hang out. You’re not homeless anymore?

Thank you,
And No, I finally got housing assistance, they discovered I had a brain aneurysm and I needed surgery, kinda hard to do that when you’re homeless. So that moved me up the priority list for public housing.

I’ve since had surgery for my aneurysm and I’m doing well thanks to my best friend Diego but now he and I have this egg.. and I have no clue what I’m doing. lol I thought about checking the laws about registering an emu as an emotional support animal but then decided an emu probably wouldn’t do so great in an apartment. So if I can manage to get this egg to hatch I’ll have to find it a new home.
Who knows, maybe I’ll discover that this is my calling though and start rescuing more critters. My bearded dragon Diego is a rescue, though I’m sure he rescued me more than I did him.
And last summer I found a half hatched raven and saved it. (The raven has since been released back into the wild and does come to visit from time to time)

 

[muddy75]

Welcome to BYC

 

[Logar]

You have been rotating it right?

 

[briefvisit]

'it’s been 40 days now;

It's not a great sign that I am posting: we used to have numbers of members with excellent knowledge of every aspect of incubation (in incubators, not under male emus . . . ). So you're basically getting what I remember from old posts:

Incubation in the wild takes plus-minus 53 days -- so you're close.

I recall that Dad emus get wiggles about half way through, and by Day Forty you should be hearing peeps.

Temperature and humidity must be just right -- the experts spend a lot of time discussing these issues, putting up graphs of weights, etc.

SE