Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a clutch of eggs that looks like it's being attacked by a fungus. One egg at a time is turning green and dying. All nine eggs started out with healthy veining. Temps have been a fairly steady 88. Vermiculite is just moist as I always do it. I'm stumped. I've never seen this before.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

I've had that happen to a couple eggs over the past 3 years but never gradually attacking the entire clutch. It looks like white and green mold. At least that's what it looked like to me. I just tore apart the bad egg from the clutch and all went well with the other eggs. I was told once to use athletes foot cream on it. It made sense considering both are fungi, but it scared me so I never tried it. One egg wasn't worth risking the clutch. Sounds like you're running out of options though, so I figured I'd share the advice I was given. Good luck. Hope it wasn't an expensive clutch.

Wayne

I know someone who uses Dessinex which is a powder for athletes foot rather than a cream. He has used it several times and has apparently had good success with it. Again, I don't have personal experience with it, but if the whole clutch is going bad it might be worth a try.
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Ryan Sherman
Scottsdale, Arizona
www.ThePaintedPython.com

I've never incubated ball python eggs. However, I've seen the sort of thing described. In my opinion, something is wrong with the incubation setup. The mold is not attacking healthy eggs; it has an opportunity to attack because the eggs are already unhealthy.

The most likely cause, in my opinion, is the substrate is too wet. Fungus powder may be helpful but is more likely to be treating a symptom rather than the cause.

Good luck.

Paul Hollander

I thought about that too. But the substrate is pretty dry. In fact, a couple eggs (surviving) dimpled due to the low humidity. I have 3 eggs left out of 9. They are due Feb 15, but at this rate, I don't think I'll have any left by next week.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

Sorry, I can't help with your problem, but these aren't your het pied eggs are they?
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John Vandegrift

>>Sorry, I can't help with your problem, but these aren't your het pied eggs are they?
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>>John Vandegrift
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

That sucks. You were not kidding about your bad luck with the pied project. I hope a couple of the eggs make it and you get lucky with the odds. Good Luck.
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John Vandegrift

green eggs are usually wet and sweaty and stinky....they are dead..not a thing you can do for it...they are usually no good from the start....they are dead and they rot on the inside and turn green

mold/fungus ON an egg can be wiped off dry and keep wiping dry (Kleenex / Q-tips ).....powder antifungal not creams......cream could drown the egg....

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>>I have a clutch of eggs that looks like it's being attacked by a fungus. One egg at a time is turning green and dying. All nine eggs started out with healthy veining. Temps have been a fairly steady 88. Vermiculite is just moist as I always do it. I'm stumped. I've never seen this before.
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>>Jay A. Martin
>>Jay Martin Reptiles

Jay..Another option you could try is methylene blue...It's used to treat fish eggs against fungus..
I add it to the water before filling my no-substrate boxes.I just fill a gallon milk jug and add the two drops of mb and then fill the boxes from that..However you could try putting some into a spray bottle and apply it that way if your using vermiculite.

This is the exact product i have been using.
www.petmountain.com/product/medications/508277/aquatrol-methylene-blue-.5oz.html

good luck with them
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Charles Glaspie

any drugstore has it. i've saved lots of eggs with it. your case does sound more like a bad clutch, happens to the best of us. i actively try to save every egg, even when it looks like it won't work. it can pay off, adam from millenium morphs fought to the end with a horrible clutch, ended up with one filthy, moldy egg that turned into one of the first snow ball pythons. so go down swinging, you never know. kurt d.

You might want to separate the eggs (if not adhered) and only treat the fungus ones. I tried the fungus powder once, might have been co-incidence but I ended up with horribly kinked babies. So maybe don’t risk it on those that don’t need it.

It seems as though these may not have been healthy from the start coupled with some other issue(s). I'm down to 3 (from 9). Let's hope they survive. I'm really surprised on this clutch anyway - last contact with a male before ovulation was over 90 days. We'll see.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles