Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys! I cannot beleive it, but one of my young normal 2002 females laided a clutch of 5 eggs and 1 slug. I candled the eggs and saw some faint line veins, but the eggs are a little pink and not so white like my first clutch.

I beleive this is because I found them RIGHT after they were laid. But then again I am not really sure what really fresh eggs are supposed to look like.

Well you can imagine what a nervous wreck I was, but this time I had a hovabator up and running. The eggs from this younger female are much smaller then the eggs from the other older heavier female. These eggs look more like chicken eggs, and dont have that really large oval shape to them.

The problem is that there is a slug-egg attached right in the center of the 5 other eggs. I gently tried to remove it, but it is stuck to the clutch.

I placed the eggs in the incubator, but I am freaking and worrying that the slug egg is going to ROT and KILL the whole clutch.

Will this slug-egg come loose by itself? If so how long?

This normal female has some nice blushing in her blotches with some cool brick-red cranberry coloring on her body. The male was just your average male Pastel.

Thanks again for any advice!

Today marks 30-days into incubation for my first clutch. I've packed on about 10lbs since the first clutch was laid. I'm just so nervous about these eggs! I find myself wishing these nice summer days away, just so I can get these eggs hatched.

I wanna go to sleep and wake up 2-months later when the eggs are pipping!

It will be fine. If the other eggs are healthy, an infertile egg that rots should not hurt the others at all if they are good viable eggs.
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CB

Try breeding corns when say you're unlucky and get 10/20 eggs that are good, but they are all stuck together.

Just leave it.

Is this your first year for getting eggs? You are one paranoid mutha! LOL!

been there done that.......

I pull them out........

only tore a couple good eggs (corn)......

balls...usually don't stick that well....if you get them fast enough.....and if they aren't that far into center.....

.....(I still pull them)......

lots of things can kill good eggs.......
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people???.........people are stupid.........
really???......really.........

I pulled this from one of Ralph Davis's journal entries (May 18). Below is Ralph talking.......I pasted this in. I thought this was good info. when you end up with a bad egg....what should you do???

Ralph would say a "bad egg" can effect the other eggs in the clutch......"a 50/50 shot"

(Ralph speaking May 18 journal)"So I got the clutches all set up............I did some work in the incubator room...........I have a few clutches that had a bad egg or two in the box..............I like to cut the bad egg out of the clutch when ever I can.............what I do when I see a really nasty bad egg in a clutch is this............I will take the entire clutch or what ever eggs are connected to the bad egg to the sink,,,,,,,,,,,,then I carefully cut the bad egg or eggs open and flush all the nasty "gunk" out of the egg...............I use warm water right from the faucet...........If I can get the bad egg's "skin off of the rest of the clutch I will do so ............. the water will loosen up the "grip" of the eggs and you can easily pull the bad egg's skin from the rest of the clutch...........if I can't, then I just leave the egg's shell there and put the clutch back in the incubator room...........it's the crap inside the egg that makes it so stinky and nasty anyway.............you get rid of that and your fine.

Some people will leave a bad egg or two in a clutch and there will be no harm to the other eggs..........."they say" that a healthy egg can not be harmed by an egg going bad beside it or connected to it............I disagree ............I have seen bad eggs start to soften up good eggs beside them..........they create little "windows" on the good eggs..........and then the egg weakens and goes bad...........so I would say that you have a 50/50 shot..........yes I have been lazy and left bad eggs to go full term with good eggs and had no problems.............it stunk like hell.............but there were no problems..........BUT I have seen bad eggs with the nasty blue/green color spread that nasty sweaty paste too other eggs.............this I do not like............so I get the bad egg outa there.

When I talk about bad eggs, I'm talking about the nasty smelly eggs that look like rainbows...........they are flat out rotten!!.............I'm not talking about a collapsed egg or ones with some mold or fuzz growing on them..............you leave them alone............I have hatched out plenty of baby ball pythons from moldy fuzzy eggs..............those nasty stinky rainbow eggs seem to ooze acid onto the other eggs after time..............if it stinks...........it's more than likely DEAD!!..............if you have doubts than leave it alone or set it up in a separate box...........that's a typical "green horn" thing to do .............Incubate SLUGS and bad eggs.......LOL.................yes I have done it too ............incubated slugs and bad eggs only to culture some of the hardiest mold you ever wanted to see.............and a stench from HELL!!!

So that's my little "bit" on getting a bad egg out of a clutch...............just be patient while doing the work.............the eggs will come apart once they are dampened.........just roll them very slowly apart...........you don't need dental floss or any other cutting tools to seperate eggs.............just work with the egg slowly and they will come apart................yes floss does work.............but that's for people who are scared to dampen their eggs................and when I say dampen ............I mean letting the water ( warm ) from the faucet run over the eggs for a second or two...............make sure you dry the eggs off once you remove the bad eggs...............put them back in the egg box just as they were and hope no more go bad......maybe even sprinkle a little foot fungus powder around in the box for "good luck"...........I do!!.............."
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Jim Perron
Python Passion Reptiles
pythonpassion@hotmail.com
www.pythonpassionreptiles.com

Good info, thanks for posting it. I have never had a problem, (cobra eggs, not Ball eggs) but it's good to know others have, so now to watch out for em.

Thanks
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CB

"I post because I'm bored"

Thanx for the info guys, I guess I am just going to leave it..

Will keep you updated. Is it going to stink really bad?

Hi Damon –

Usually infertile ball python eggs don’t adhere strongly to the rest of the clutch, so I’m a little unclear about the one you call the “slug-egg.” But if it really is infertile, it shouldn’t produce much of a bad smell during the incubation period. Remember, it’s a dead and decomposing embryo/baby snake that produces a big stink. An infertile egg is basically just a container full of lipids, so there’s nothing to die, obviously. But even the bad smell from a dead embryo doesn’t last for too many days.

I like to separate all the eggs in a clutch, just because I like to weigh and measure them. But if you’ve never done that with ball python eggs, you might be asking for trouble. I’d suggest leaving it alone.

-Joan