Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I noticed some posts lower in the forum about mold and fungus. I thought I would share something a friend of mine came up with several years ago and seems to work in a number of cases for us. In any case get some desenex powder (yes the foot stuff), make a watery paste out of it and take a Q-TIP, DIP IT IN THE SOLUTION and touch each egg with the fungus in several places where it is present. It should die within a couple of days. Cheap, easy adn it works on a wide variety fungus and molds.

John Cherry
Cherryville Farms

Yes, I confirm. I got the same advice from my friend, except that his way of aplication is to dredge egg(s) by that powder(against foot fungus), quite a lot (do not worry about egg it still could breathe). My results are 50:50 which is quite good enough, because normaly would be almost 100% lost..
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Radim Soukup
www.kingsnake.cz
Czech Republic, EU

That is intereting, I have had some that died in the egg from the use of too much in our opinion. So we merely dot the egg and that seems to be enough for us anyway in most cases. So far we have found no fungus or mold that is resistant to the method.

John Cherry
Cherryville Farms

Thanks for sharing that information. I have used a 10 to 1 water bleach solution in the past it hasn't killed any babies but u have to repeat it about every 2 weeks.
Also really love that buckskin in the pic.

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Michelle
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

I've used the Tinactin and Desenex cream with good results too. Anyone else use the cream?

BTW I used to own that snake. I believe you sold that one to the gentleman at Mountain Kings. He sold it to me and I sold it to another guy in Nevada. I believe that Dan V hatched that one out in 1999 or 2000. He posted a pic of that female saying that he wished he had never sold it. She was a beauty.

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Vichris
"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane"- Marcus Aurelius

Vichris Variables

If you have not tried long leaf spaghum moss I strongly suggest you do. The moss has a natural acids that help prevent bacteria growth. I've been using moss every year and so long as I started out with fertilized eggs, I never got fungus growth on eggs. With moss you cover the ggs entirely and it protects them from airborn bacteria...etc.

IT's worth a try.

John,

Yes, I use the "foot powder" as well.

This is the culprit I was referring to. First picture is from an egg from the clutch mentioned below, second picture is of a desiccated clutch. Whatever this is (I still believe it to be a fungus) appeared immediately and was devistating to the surrounding eggs. I saved the forementioned clutch because I caught it immediately; the first picture is from an egg from the successfully hatched clutch. There were many other eggs in the incubator at the same time that didn't get contaminated and hatched successfully.


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Maria

Alaska Reptiles

"Life is like a box of thayeri eggs..."

I have had 2 clutches look like that and go bad... I have one egg left due to hatch in 4days but I having a feeling that ones not goin to make it....
So what causes the lines on the eggs?

If I ever find out i will share.
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Maria

Alaska Reptiles

"Life is like a box of thayeri eggs..."

Maria,

Sincere thanks for posting those photos for all to see...That is a very intersting growth pattern there...After seeing that photo, I'm even more curious to know what "IT" is (if you ever find out)...Again, Thanks from everyone for posting this...

Later,
Jim.
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CSRAJim

Jim,

I'm meeting with my reptile vet on Wednesday, but I'm assuming since she didn't already call me, she wasn't able to get an ID on the contamination.

It's times like these that I miss having my lab in Chicago...
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Maria

Alaska Reptiles

"Life is like a box of thayeri eggs..."

Maria,

Yes, the professor's "inner sanctum" of refuge and exploration...I hope your lab wasn't under any type of "Level"...I've never been a fan of the "Bugs" aspect of NBC...

In any case, I really hope that you can ID what "IT" is as "IT" certainly is not good for the incubation of future progeny...

I'm glad you're digits are fully functional again enabling you to be back amongst the "typing" fingers...Ha! Ha!

Later,
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CSRAJim

Jim,

My lab routined encountered mold contamination in our heart cell cultures about every other Spring, like clockwork. It would take months to get the incubators sterile again and that meant months of potential research down the drain. Bacterial contaminants were generally just an indication of sloppy sterile technique. Fungus and mold represented a bigger problem.

Anyway, if there was something we couldn't identify, all we had to do is send a sample down the hall or across the building. This was one advantage to being part of a large Medical Center.

Anyway. the lab diagnostic that I got back from my vet indicated fungal growth contamination and that's it....Duh. No ID. I learned that my vet; after asking her for a culture and identification of the "fungus"; put my live sample in formalin before sending it out. Formulin is a fixative; thus killing viable samples. Can you sense my frustration here??

Anyway, I have since contacted an expert in fungal identification in New Zealand. I still have dead sample that can perhaps be identified through histological methods. If I find anything else out, I will post it.
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Maria

Alaska Reptiles

"Life is like a box of thayeri eggs..."