Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Trying to hatch out my first eggs ever. They r eastern milksnake eggs. Its been about two weeks and they are starting to mold. I switched from a sphagnum moss/fir bar medium to perlite b/c of the molding but it has not done any good. Any way to kill off the mold w/o hurting the eggs? A couple drops of bleach in a sprayer full of water and mist them? I don't want to injure the embryos with transfer of the chemical throught the shells, but they'll die from the mold too if I don't do something. Thank for the help.

Are you sure that the eggs were good to begin with? Bad (unfertilized) eggs are going to mold no matter what. If you are sure that they are good, it's possible that it's too humid in your container, though it sounds like your are already working on that. About the only other thing that you can try is a little Tinactin (foot fungicide).

I wouldn't use any type of bleach.
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Paul Weaver
Carolina Herps

Paul's right, if they are bad to begin with it's only a matter of time before they actually rot away. If Tinactin doesn't seem to be working, I would advise using Lotrimen AF solution.
Good luck.
Nathan Wells

Thanks guys, I'll give the foot fungicide sprays a (light) shot. Don't know if the eggs are good are not, but two of the four sure looked good when I started incubating them!

I would leave the top off the egg container to let them dry out some but check daily to make sure they don't start sinking in too much. Don't throw them out until way past the expected hatch date. Here are seven scarlet king eggs I hatched a few years ago. All seven hatched to my surprise.