My partner, Rom Whitaker was called last week to rescue a wild king cobra nest. The nest was in a private coffee estate. It appears that the female and the nest went completely unnoticed until the rains came and flattened the nest into the tiny mound. Then began a big circus. For about 2 weeks the nest was a local tourist attraction - typically people would poke the nest and make the king stand up. She would leave on seeing the crowd and then the people opened the nest to see the eggs. Once one group of people leave, the female would return and gather her eggs together and pile some leaves on top and resume duties until the next gang arrived. Her persistence drove the neighbours to come out with shot guns and gasoline (ostensibly to burn the nest down). By this time some other folks got in touch with one of our team to come and catch the snake. When he arrived there, he realized what was going on and called us. By this time, the female deserted her nest and her eggs were lying exposed to air and rain. We went there with the Forest Department officials, made a report and got permission to remove the eggs. This was on the 19th. We've got the 18 eggs in air tight plastic containers (3 eggs to a box). The substrate is made of 3 layers of sterilized (by boiling) foam. The bottom layer is damp; the middle layer is the buffer between the eggs and the dampness. The eggs sit on the top layer. The boxes are opened once a day to let fresh air in.

By the 20th, fungus began developing on 8 eggs. Rom thinks from prior experience that fungus develops only on infertile eggs which die anyway. But he's not sure if that is true in this case. The worry is that the eggs actually got wet and they are discolored already. He's also unable to judge how old the eggs are. The nest temperature was 22 C (very low because of the unseasonal rain); humidity was 92% and he thinks that they need at least another 30 to 45 days to hatch. Currently we are dusting the eggs with an antibacterial-antifungal powder called Clotrimazole. Is there any other magic potion that can save the eggs that any of you are aware of?

I'm afraid that this same situation is likely to arise again - another abandoned nest close to a village that Rom's going to see tomorrow.

Thank you

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