Hello everyone. Just wanted to give you all a quick rundown of SIM incubation. I will be posting how it works, what the benefits are, some of the successes with the product, and some photos. Hopefully it will answer some questions. If you have any additional question or have any comments, please feel free to post them up on this thread.
Firstly, lets start with the word S.I.M.
S.I.M. stands for Suspension Incubation Method. This is in relation to how the eggs are incubated on a grid off the substrate. This prohibits direct contact with a wet substrate.
Why is this important?
Because most reptile eggs can not handle wet conditions. Eggs incubated buried in dampened substrate are subjected to excess water which often results in drowned eggs. Also in contrast to this, too little water or humidity results in egg desiccation.
Another perk to using S.I.M. is it allows approximately 100% gas exchange between the container environment and the egg membrane.
Why is this important and what does it do?
When eggs are buried they coverd with dirt or your choice of incubation medium. This can create an environment with restrcted oxygen and will keep carbon dioxide in close proximity to the eggs. This slows developement of the embryo and the carbondioxide can cause reptiles to hatch early before they have had the chance to absorb their "yolk sack".
The higher concentration of oxygen and lower levels of carbon dioxide you get when using S.I.M. incubation allows the embryo to develope faster and hatchlings actually absorb the contents of the yolk sack before emerging from the egg. The better developemnt also yields stronger, more robust hatchlings.
Is the S.I.M. container a miracle egg box that will hatch everything put into it? No, your eggs need to be fertile. LOL. However, you chances of success can increase with fertile eggs with the S.I.M. only because it take away a lot of human error.
There have been some major successes with the use of this container. Some very hard to hatch eggs have been incubated easily in these container with great hatch rates. For example, Chuckwallas are notorious for have very poor hatch rates in captivity. The average clutch will only yield a 30% to 40% hatch rate. A zoo that uses our product has gotten 100% hatch rates in this species.
Here are some photos. Please enjoy.
Lace Monitor Photo by Croc Doc
Hognose snakes
Fat tail geckos Photo by JMG Reptiles
Albino Carpet Pythons
Ball Pythons
Leopard Geckos
Varanus Tristis
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