Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi Everyone I checked my clutch this morning, to discover 1 of the eggs had a few spots of mould on it so I candled it and it looks to now be infertal (today is about day 35) should I leave this egg and see what happens or remove it ASAP? also this is a Het to het breeding and i would be interested to see if this is possibly my 1 visable morph, would I be able to see at this stage if I cut it open or would it be so disgusting i should just bin it? any advice would be greatfully recieved.

Kenny

Kenny, I am no expert but I have read and followed this advise; if it smells rotten or bad remove it to aviod risk to the other eggs. If it smells ok leave them alone. I just had a fertil egg go bad and mold at around the same time as you. I left it in with the two good eggs because it smelled ok and just yeaterday I hatched out two good looking babies. I also had concerns about the babies breathing around moldy eggs and a friend told me thats what happens in the wild, they just deal with it. Now on the other hand last year I did remove an egg from a clutch because it smelled bad using the dental floss method. Good luck

Hi, thanks for your reply - its not smelling at the moment but its also not connected to other eggs so if it really starts to tern i'll get rid of it, have you had eggs with small amounts of mould that have gone the distance?

Thanks,

Kenny.

If its infertile no snake is developing in it so you wont be able to see anything if you cut it.

Hi Thank you for your response. The egg was fertile up until I checked it today, do you know how much the snakes would have developed mid term?

I think it would be recognizable mid term. Dont know exactly how much it would be developed as far as pattern or color. If the egg was fertile to start it didnt "turn" infertile it just died for whatever reason. There are many factors that could play into that happening.

Leave it. It won't affect healthy eggs. I have a clutch with one very mouldy egg attached (and one slug that is visible in pic). The egg began to mould about 30 days into the incubation. The clutch is due to hatch 8/16.

Susan
SSNAKES Reptiles

Hi, thanks for your reply. you said that the mouldy egg was a duff egg, have you had healthy eggs that have turned? it was definatly fertile a few days ago with good blood vessels visible. would you know if this can "just" sometimes happen or is this the sign of a heat/humidity problem?

Thanks,

Kenny

let it be, it still could hatch

Pitoon

Yes Kenney, that mouldy egg started out looking perfectly normal in every way. About 3 weeks into incubation, it developed a black spot on it. That spot grew to consume the entire egg. I believe it was a good egg that for whatever reason did not make it. I don't candle eggs so I can't say for certain if it was fertile when first laid.

Susan

then I leave them. It stinks as it goes bad but if the other eggs are healthy then they can usually "tolerate" it. I incubate all eggs even if I have a bad feeling about them from the get go. I know some cut away the bad one or "saw" it off with dental floss but I am too much of a wuss. I hate the risk of damaging the other eggs. Rotten egg juice is not pleasant or tasty. And putting eggs under running water to clean up the mess I make doesn't feel right to me..

If they are not stuck together, then pull it and incubate it in another container. If it goes bad, then discard it when you are sure it has gone bad. It is usually over when it starts to smell.

I wipe Nolvasan (diluted with water) on my funky eggs. I have had eggs develop spots/mold/fungus late in incubation but hatch fine after using Nolvasan.

Here is a picture of a egg that went bad.....with the exception of the rotten egg everything else hatched....even the one next to the rotten egg that is "seeping".

Joe Compel Reptiles