Reptile & Amphibian Forums

These eggs are driving me nuts!!

At about 10 days incubation, one egg in a clutch of 12 came up with fuzzy mold and a bit of dark mold. I've been cleaning it with a bit of Listerine as the mold reappears. I think the problem there was a really thick clump of moss that held too much moisture. I was concerned about my other clutch of eggs, so I dried out the moss a bit and added more ventilation. They started denting two days ago! Today my beardie eggs are collapsing (never happens and I've been breeding those for 10 years). What the heck!! The beardies egg I can deal with because I have more experience there. This is only my second season with corn snakes, so I'm not so sure. Last year was textbook with no problems.

Here's my set-up...Inside the incubator is 83.8 degrees and 43% humidity. The beardies are on vermiculite, but the corns are in moss. The moldy eggs have been dried out a bit, but I still see condensation inside the box. I moistened the moss for the collapsing corn eggs, but some are still dented, no condensation in that container.

You're overcomplicating this. Living eggs have an immune system well able to handle mold. In my experience (been breding corns since the early 80s), if an egg develops mold it is already too late to save that egg. Certainly drying out the clutch is unlikely to help, and, as you've seen, may be dangerous to the remaining live eggs.

A moldy egg should be removed carefully from the others if possible, and discarded. That said, usually if it is impossible to remove the dead egg, the others will still hatch without problems.
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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

The Avalanche has already started-it is too late for the pebbles to vote....

Sure, sure...I know what you mean. I didn't think I could save this egg, but wanted to control the environment a bit more since it seemed to be off in the first place. I'm not sure if I can remove it since it's in the middle of the cluster and glued to three other eggs. To be honest, the idea of mold spores circulating around this clutch has me a bit nervous.

So now...what can I do about everything else going on, besides the bad egg?

Honestly-I would think about mixing up a fresh batch of properly hydrated media and actually moving the entire clutch into that. The old media may already be too dry. Also, I'm of course assuming that your eggs are in closed containers inside the incubator-otherwise that 43% relative humidity would have dessicated them long ago. I like to keep an open container of water in the incubator to increase ambient humidity.
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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

The Avalanche has already started-it is too late for the pebbles to vote....

I did think of just starting over with new moss. Yes, they are in closed containers, LOL! I've had them open today or else I'd get an inside reading. I opened the ventilation holes on the incubator to reduce the humidity. Maybe it's a FL humidity thing, but I really have a hatred for mold. Hopefully I didn't shoot myself in the foot. It's only been 14 days for these eggs, so maybe if I just completely start over, it will all turn OK.

Thanks so much for your time, I appreciate it.

why vermic for one egg and moss for corn?

use vermic.it's a stone and won't mold.....

moss molds ,always.....

......green eggs are dead eggs........wet eggs die......

dry eggs off with q-tip or kleenex.....if they get moldy all the time....look at them and see if they still look like alive ,good eggs......

as they said...good eggs can handle some mold.....but not alot......

......use vermic ......I don't use incubators either..just stick the boxes on the shelves at around 82 degrees....

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With the eggs in a clump, half would be buried in vermiculite, or else half would be completely exposed. Good? Bad?

I always use mosss in my nest boxes and when incubating the eggs. My secret is I put them on a shelf and let them sit. This is my third year and have had 100% hatch rate. The temp averages between 78-80

Tom

peat moss will work because it is already rotted and all the sugars have been deleted from it....

green moss will die and mold....

brown fresh dead moss will usually mold quickly too.

if you been doing it and it works...fine.....good luck......I know alot of eggs were hatched in moss back in the days......waaaay back too......

peat works....some people use it all the time........perlite and vermiculite just happen to be used the most......

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keep them clumped.......I keep all eggs touching....even if they aren't connected I want them all touching to share the moisture and share the love.....I press all eggs into clumps and even a few clutches together in the boxes to hatch.....(not always)......

.....halfway burried is fine.....I just pile the vermic around so it halfway burries all eggs if possible...if not they may and can be left on top of the pile if necessary......with some clumps like big ball clutches I will even use damp cloth if necessary to cover the top eggs if they dent in too much...cotton cloth works better than moss or paper towels....

good luck......

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