Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Question on mold..

I had a clutch (stuck together) that had 3 bad eggs from the start. Put them in the incubator, and eventually the bad eggs started to mold. Now we're within a few days of the due date and a couple of the good eggs are developing some patches of mold that have spread from the bad eggs. I slit one and I see what looks like a formed snake with bright red veins in the egg. I would think if the animal was dead the veins would go dark red or blackish. I know some of you have to have run into this before.. is this going to be a write-off or might they still be good?
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

How many days are they? I bet they'll be ok. I have a clutch that's at day 53 and I noticed a moldy spot on one egg yesterday (I'm not sure why - I used the no substrate method and there were no bad eggs). I was pretty worried since this is only my second clutch but the egg with the moldy spot pipped this morning. The baby's not out yet, but it looks healthy so I wouldn't give up on your eggs yet. The other eggs haven't pipped yet, but I'm thinking I'll give them a day or so to pip before I cut them.

Hope this helps,
Shelly

As of today... day 59.

My last clutch pipped during the night of day 60, so it's about time they start to do something if they're going to.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

>>How many days are they? I bet they'll be ok. I have a clutch that's at day 53 and I noticed a moldy spot on one egg yesterday (I'm not sure why - I used the no substrate method and there were no bad eggs). I was pretty worried since this is only my second clutch but the egg with the moldy spot pipped this morning. The baby's not out yet, but it looks healthy so I wouldn't give up on your eggs yet. The other eggs haven't pipped yet, but I'm thinking I'll give them a day or so to pip before I cut them.
>>
>>Hope this helps,
>>Shelly

Shelly,
I've had a few that turned green/blue all over the day they pip...It's seems as if the egg is already dead once the hatchling pips,and therefore any moldspore it was fending off was then allowed to advance.
Try adding some methylene blue to the water in the eggbox next time around....It is used to control mold when hatching fish eggs,so i figured why not try some....Worked for me.

Dangerously,
Use a cotton swab to clean it off with some hydrogen peroxide(the 3% label),and then spray rinse it with clean water....it worked for me.
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Charles Glaspie

I think you might be right about why they're molding. It would make sense since all of the eggs were mold free until yesterday. I will try adding the methylene blue next time, though. Thanks for the tip. The mold just freaked me out - I didn't want anything to happen to them so close to hatching.

Thanks,
Shelly