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moldy eggs!

she_geek Nov 02, 2007 03:36 PM

Eek! My eggs are covered in fuzz. I keep them in a tupperware container with about 2-3 inches of damp vermiculite at room temperature, and open the lid several times a week to aerate. I hear that herps can hatch from even super-nasty looking eggs, but I want to know if there's anything I can/should do, either to help my moldy eggs or prevent this in the future. Should I wipe off the excess mold? Transfer them to a new, cleaned container? Stop using vermiculite? Thanks for your help!
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0.1 Boa constrictor imperator
2.5 Ball pythons
1.1 Crested Geckos

Replies (4)

warnersister Nov 06, 2007 08:23 PM

how do you go about adding water to the vermiculite? if you squeeze a handful of it, does any water drip out? it shouldn't. i would say it's too late for these eggs but i'm not positive. i suppose you could try redoing the vermiculite mixture, wiping off the mold and starting over. perhaps they would recover?

vermiculite is my personal incubation medium of choice but i have heard good things about aquatic plant soil as well if you continue having bad results with vermiculite.
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3.1 snakes, 3.1.1 crested geckos, 0.1 gargoyle gecko, 2.0 devon rex cats, 1.0 betta

she_geek Nov 08, 2007 01:11 PM

Thanks for your reply. I did mix water and vermiculite until it was damp but I couldn't squeeze water out of it. Maybe next time I'll do it by weight and see if that makes a difference.

I think you're right about it being too late for these eggs. Ah well...my female's laying like clockwork, so I'll have a chance to try again.
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0.1 Boa constrictor imperator
2.5 Ball pythons
1.1 Crested Geckos

warnersister Nov 08, 2007 05:36 PM

i never had any luck mixing by weight - i would always have to add more water and found that my mixture was too dry. not sure why your eggs are molding, maybe it's just the female, is she a new breeder?
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3.1 snakes, 3.1.1 crested geckos, 0.1 gargoyle gecko, 2.0 devon rex cats, 1.0 betta

she_geek Dec 09, 2007 08:31 PM

Sorry for the late reply - the breeder told me that she'd laid eggs before, but that she'd had a year off before coming to me. I'm going to let her have the winter off and let the tank cool - after the winter I plan on experimenting with some other egg substrates (maybe hatch-rite) to see if that takes care of it.
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0.1 Boa constrictor imperator
2.5 Ball pythons
1.1 Crested Geckos

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