Reptile & Amphibian Forums

First time trying to hatch python eggs. Purchased a gravid normal and she laid 7 nice eggs last night(2/10). However, this afternoon they are dimpled significantly.

My set up is an old freezer turned incubator w/heat tape and a Helix. Temp is 89 and humidity is on up there. I had the freezer fan going to circulate air and the eggs were in an open container. This evening I put a lid on the container and turned off the fan. I also had a damp paper towel over the eggs for a few hours but took it off - I believe that is what caused the discolorated blotches on the eggs.

If they were dimpling due to drying out- can they make a recovery?

Yes, they can make a recovery. My eggs hatched just fine with the most awful dimpling imaginable.

The wet papertowel might have done a lot more harm than the dimpling. Getting the eggs wet directly tends to kill them from what I've heard. Hopefully they make it!

Just add some more water to the stuff the eggs are incubating (but not directly on the eggs!). What I did was I'd add a little bit more around the edges of my incubating container. Other than that, just leave 'em be for a couple months! Only open the incubator once or twice a week for the first month, and then at most every other day after that.

My clutch a couple weeks before hatching:

Good luck!

~jenny
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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
0.0.1 Mountain Horned Lizard
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 mice (Cute Girl Mousy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
0.0.1 chupacabra (it ate our chickens)

jenny.thegreenes.org

Your eggs are dry... What you were doing with the paper towel was correct.. put the damp towel back and seal the box tightly with seran wrap or place a piece of glass on top to keep the humidity in.. in a few days the eggs will swell back up... And, if they don't they were not good to begin with.

good luck.. keep us posted..

~ Mike Russo

Thanks!

I need more than the top on the container? If I seal the container tightly will the eggs still be able to breathe?

Now the top is on it, but there are a few holes around the edge - still go ahead and seal it up?

WJ

Seal it up and see what happens with this clutch. I think they have had too many changes too soon, but cook 'em anyway.

Eggs need very little in the way of oxygen this early on. In fact, I have been hatching python eggs in sealed containers for 20 years. Weekly checking of the eggs provides enough air exchange. Once I hit 50 days, I open the box up daily to see if they are pipping anyway, so that is more than enough air exchange. Once the eggs pip, and the babies are breathing, I poke a few holes. Good luck.

Will

Those eggs definately got too wet and they look older than a day. It's going to be an up hill battle to try and "fix" them. The 2 on the upper left look saveable but the other 4 in the pic don't look good. Only thing you can do is set them up right and hope for the best. Put the lid on the container with no holes in it and don't mess with them. Worst thing you can do is open up the incubator every day to check on them (cold air rushes in). I use vermiculite so you'd have to talk to someone who's used perlite to let you know exactly how to set that stuff up. Hopefully you have better luck with your next clutch.

Corey
PS If you try and hydrate the dimpled eggs too quickly you will kill them from drowning them. If you set them up probably they should come back over a couple weeks.

n/p
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http://www.jasballpythons.com./

np

np

Those don't look so great. Did you candle them are they fertile?
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Nita Hamilton
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Ball Pythons
ballpythonworld.com

Hi,

I agree with corey, I'm afraid that most of those eggs look dead. It is never a good sign when they have those water spots on them, especially this early in incubation. They actually look like they are a couple of weeks old. The dimpling is minor and could be corrected over time if that was all that was wrong with them. It looks like the overcompensation for the dimpling drowned them. Perlite is a very forgiving medium, more so than vermiculite, in my opinion. But the airflow from the uncovered egg box (always bad) probably caused them to lose too much moisture too quickly, and in an attempt to correct the problem, you soaked them and killed them. Remember that quick changes in temperature and humidity kills eggs, gradual changes are correctable, but the changes that you described in a 24 hour period likley killed this clutch.

Also, never let eggs sit uncovered in the incubator, the fan to prevent temperature stratification will dessicate the eggs very quickly. Good luck with them, but I wouldn't expect too much from this clutch.

Will