Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My snake just laid eggs on Friday. The eggs are caving in fairly bad. The humidity is 100%, what do I do?

From my experiences, eggs don't cave in at 100% humidity. Check your hygrometer again.
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www.strictlyballs.ca

What kind of container are they in? What substrate?
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John Vandegrift

Really caved in eggs are probably dead. Were they fertile? You can check by holding a flashlight to the egg if they were/are fertile you will see veins.

They are fertile eggs, they have many veins. It says that the humidity is 100%. I have several open tupperware container with water in it so that there will be extra humidity. I have the eggs in a plastic snake container without the lid in an incubator. The substrate is vermiculite and it is slightly damp, it clumps together when I squeeze it but it does not have excess water in it.

the problem is the container should be sealed. I have had zero denting on eggs this year because all are in sealed containers. I learned the hard way the last 2 years and figured it out last year completly.
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Michael Enriquez

Dumje is correct! Mist the eggs down, put the lid on the container, get the containers of open water outa there(disaster waiting to happen) and leave alone! After a day or two, check on the eggs! There should be condensation on the inside of the lid! Make sure you have some air holes in the egg container! Good Luck!

DO NOT mist the eggs. Terrible advice....
Your job is to keep the area they are in humid, but the eggs dry.
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www.strictlyballs.ca

Nor do you need holes in the egg box.

Snake eggs are a living, breathing item! A few air holes in the incubation box, is a good thing for air circulation!

I've been misting Ball Python eggs since 1988 w/great success! If you don't agree w/that, I'm sorry! It works GREAT for me! With that said, I don't think it's "terrible advice"!

Ditch the containers of extra water. You should have substrate, eggs, thermometer/hygrometer and thats it inside the egg box.

You should put the lid on the egg box it will help hold the humdity in around the eggs where it is needed -- make sure you have a good accurate way to measure your temps and humidity. Eggs should plump back up pretty well once you have them set up proper.

In my experience vermiculite that clumps together is too wet -- you might want to pull the eggs out and put some more dry vermiculite over what you have in the egg box then put the eggs on that.

You should not get any condensation in the egg box -- that would be a sign of fluctuating temperatures not proper humidity.

What type of incubator are you using?

Good luck.
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Tosha
JET Pythons

at night. I've got over 40 clutches cooking in 2 different incubators to date this season. I set them up and don't look at them until one week before hatch when I take the Press N Seal off. There are many posts on how to set sustratless up.

Many people have had MUCH MORE success hatching than I eggs over many years using the traditional method. But for me -- a first season breeder who has a day job, I would be a basket-case worrying about the traditional method. Substratless is great for people like myself who would rather be safe than sorry based on the fact he doesn't have enough experience to know when things are going/have gone terribly wrong!!! Tosha's advice should get you back on track. Yea Tosha!!! Good luck.
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Bill Buchman

>>at night. I've got over 40 clutches cooking in 2 different incubators to date this season. I set them up and don't look at them until one week before hatch when I take the Press N Seal off. There are many posts on how to set sustratless up.
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>>Many people have had MUCH MORE success hatching than I eggs over many years using the traditional method. But for me -- a first season breeder who has a day job, I would be a basket-case worrying about the traditional method. Substratless is great for people like myself who would rather be safe than sorry based on the fact he doesn't have enough experience to know when things are going/have gone terribly wrong!!! Tosha's advice should get you back on track. Yea Tosha!!! Good luck.
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>>Bill Buchman
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www.RoyalGemReptiles.com

And Tosha! There is certainly nothing wrong w/a little condensation on the lid of an egg box! A "sign of fluctuating temps"? Do you think eggs stay at exactly 90 degrees and 100% humidty for 2 months straight in Benin, Ghana or Togo?

Gotta love the ol' "Back In Africa" argument.

No - I don't think their temps and humidity are completely stable through out incubation. But I also don't think they live in tubs, get fed weekly, get taken to the vet when they get sick and I don't believe they have someone in charge of removing all of the ball eggs in Africa and sticking them in an incubator.

It has been my understanding that as domestic keepers and breeders it's kind of our job to provide optimal conditions for our animals and the offspring they produce. To me that doesn't include water dripping all over the eggs when it doesn't have to be - perhaps I am wrong - I often am.

Further -- I never did actually say that condensation was bad per se -- just that it was a sign of unstable temps -- it wouldn't be something I would personally advise a newbie trying to save eggs to strive for -- but everyone has their own way of doing things and it's good to get lots of different input.
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Tosha
JET Pythons

I guess "condensation" could range from "hazing" on the lid to "dripping" water, which I would say probably isn't the "optimum" condition, but STILL probably wouldn't kill the eggs! I've seen Burmese eggs(not mine), half submerged in water, hatch! I never once mentioned "dripping" water, as I was thinking more of the "hazing" type of condensation!

It's all relative. Tosha is correct in saying there's a temp fluctuation. But it normally takes a bit of change to actually create condensation. Some fogging is fine, some slight condensation is fine but dripping wet is not (IMHO). However, if you look at some old videos (Barker or TSK, I can't remember), they periodically flip the glass over as it condenses and from what I remember there was quite a bit of condensation - dripping.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

I use glad press and seal on the egg boxes. It does get a bit of humidity from a very minor fluctuation in temps. I am using a ranco and it fluctuates about a half degree. I just change the press and seal when i see it start to build up.

I hatched my very first clutch this season and I had condensation the whole time. Once a week I would pull the lid off and wipe it dry. Didn't hurt anything and it was a good excuse to check out the eggs and give them some fresh air. I hatched out nine of nine eggs. I used a cooler incubator with a Herpstat, a sealed egg box and Hatch-rite substrate...