Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My eggs look like they are starting to dry out, whats the best way to keep them moist. also i have a still air incubator made of styrofoam, can i put water in the bottom to keep humidity up???

Are your eggs in a covered container inside the incubator?? If not they should be or they will dry out real quick.

Tell us more about your incubator set up.. or post a pic so we can give you correct advice.

~ Mike Russo

yes they are in plastic containers with vermiculite in them the incubator is a styrofoam "Still air" incubator with a wire mesh about 3 inches from the bottom of the incubator.

ok, what i am asking is if the plastic contaners that is inside the incubator that the vermiculite and eggs are in is covered??

~ Mike Russo

If your eggs are denting in, then take a clean, damp (not wet) paper towel and lay it over the eggs ASAP. It may take a couple of days, but if your eggs are good they will plump back up.

~ Mike Russo

>>My eggs look like they are starting to dry out, whats the best way to keep them moist. also i have a still air incubator made of styrofoam, can i put water in the bottom to keep humidity up???

Yes! put water in the bottom, There should be two areas that hold about 1/2 inch of water, fill them both up with about 1/2 inch of water. Keep your eggs low as possible, away from the heat element. If your just hatching a few cluches, you can cut the screen down so your tubs will sit on the bottom. I also cover my tubs with sran wrap, with about 6 holes poke in it, to keep the humidity up,and it serves as a heat barrier between the eggs and heat element.(don't let the sran wrap touch the eggs)
Good luck, Bob

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R.Bichlers Colubrids
http://www.webspawner.com/users/rbichler/index.html

......king eggs and incubators ...sometimes they just don't mix...

.........incubators will dry out substrate and eggs...and adding water all the time is bad....it can be too much or too little...

....first thing with Hova-Bator type incubators is to get a new and higher bottom, the one that comes with them is for bird eggs and they need 102 to 105 degrees...they need to closer tot the heat, and turned, and not setting in moist substate....bigger bottom makes a better incubator...easier to keep the correct 82/84 degrees....

...the pic with the setup of eggs ...the one tub on the right has 2 eggs in the bottom of the pile that look like they may have died from being too wet...has a couple on the left in different tubs that look dead or dying...yes I cannot tell from pic how wet or if they were fertile to start with and yes I lose hundreds of eggs some years, due to me, the males, and the females.....it happens.......too wet is too bad too.......

.......without seeing and touching eggs we cannot really tell people online if they are too wet or too dry and what to do....eggs can ,and will dent in from being too wet also...and dying....yes they will bloat up if too wet also....but sometimes they just die and dent and really never bloat up with moiture being absorbed......
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..J Yohe ....

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>>......king eggs and incubators ...sometimes they just don't mix...
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>>.........incubators will dry out substrate and eggs...and adding water all the time is bad....it can be too much or too little...
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>>....first thing with Hova-Bator type incubators is to get a new and higher bottom, the one that comes with them is for bird eggs and they need 102 to 105 degrees...they need to closer tot the heat, and turned, and not setting in moist substate....bigger bottom makes a better incubator...easier to keep the correct 82/84 degrees....
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>>...the pic with the setup of eggs ...the one tub on the right has 2 eggs in the bottom of the pile that look like they may have died from being too wet...has a couple on the left in different tubs that look dead or dying...yes I cannot tell from pic how wet or if they were fertile to start with and yes I lose hundreds of eggs some years, due to me, the males, and the females.....it happens.......too wet is too bad too.......
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>>.......without seeing and touching eggs we cannot really tell people online if they are too wet or too dry and what to do....eggs can ,and will dent in from being too wet also...and dying....yes they will bloat up if too wet also....but sometimes they just die and dent and really never bloat up with moiture being absorbed......
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>>..J Yohe ....
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If you read the post again, you will find, I was not asking the Question, but replying.
I DON'T HAVE ANY PROBLEMS WITH THE HOVA BATOR BOXES THAT I CAN'T HANDLE........
Thanks for the help anyway!
PS, those were 2006 and 2007 eggs, there were maybe a total of 4 eggs out of both boxes that were infertile from the start. which I knew, but couldn't separate. And your right about the bottom box, tub on the right bottom, middle egg, was infertile, which I knew from the start by candle light.
The rest of the eggs all hatched fine:



Thanks again!
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R.Bichlers Colubrids
http://www.webspawner.com/users/rbichler/index.html

that's fine...I know you were replying...I know what you said...I also was going by sight...I cannot touch the pic and feel those eggs....they looked wet to me...some looked thin shelled...that happens alot at times...and they still hatch...I know..some of the eggs were dented...sometimes it is from being too wet also....king eggs like cals can swell alot when wet......I figured you figured some were infertile from the start....we can tell usually....not always...yea...anyways....
just saying what my eyes were seeing.....

people always say"my eggs are denting" and we always say "cover with damp cloth towel" (actually people say paper towel, but I find they suck more and dry out too quickly,I use cloth on balls)......but we don't always see the dented eggs, and sometimes the people might have them drowning already and they are denting from dieing .....

.......eggs.......some can take anything...and some die no matter what..............

good luck........
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..J Yohe ....

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funny you mentioned the elevation issue, I am a room temp incubater and dont use one much but my neighbor was throwing away a hovabator lid because the rats in his tack room ate the lower section and it now is atop a 15-18 high 1" styro .That came in handy last year here in Ocala, compared to Dade county,best of luck to find one this styro box came from import trop fish...Chris

...I have 4 and the bottoms are all fish box bottoms...been that way for 15 years....I use them for balls...need the height...(all started with a guys' burm clutch ...really needed the height)....

....think.......I use a temp gun...am right now starting up my first Hova of the year....as we all do...I open it and take a temp of the substrate....88.9 89.2 90.3...etc etc......as soon as you open the lid the temp drops REALLY fastly....

....so...thought....I took a temp of the lid as soon as I opened it a few times.....98 99.....get the thought....if you have eggs up too close or up in between the coil even...they are cooking at 99 and more.....

(no wonder balls on top hatch first, and if the pile is too tall...they might hatch a week and more early...or die..)...been there....

....check the temps...

for colubrid I use the shelf above the sink...around 82 with spikes all over up to.....88....

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..J Yohe ....

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I just loosely lay a piece of wax paper on top of the eggs or pile of eggs and punch a couple of holes in it to help retain the moisture if needed. I don't use an incubater but just put them in a plastic shoe box with a few small holes in the lid on the top shelf of my room which is probably 82 at that height. They hatch just fine if fertilized. Also don't worry about all the wives tales about touching the eggs, water dripping on eggs etc. Could tell a ton of stories on eggs rolling over, being picked up by 50 kids and squeezed some, etc and they hatched just fine. People some time loose eggs and try to find a reason why and that is how some of these tales get started. Not based on fact but assumptions. If you are new to this start candling your eggs, this means using a pen light up against the egg in a dark room and you should still see veins. This tells you it is a fertilized egg. It doesn't mean it will hatch a perfect baby since deformities and death happens in incubation for whatever reason. But an unfertilized egg can look good well past the 60 incubation days and still be a non fertilized egg that obviuosly will never hatch. Also don't worry about fungus etc. I've had fertilized eggs surrounded by horrible looking decayed eggs and they hatch just fine if fertilized in the first place. Good luck. Also a very old qrticle which holds true is that for every 2 degrees or so below or above 82 takes a week longer to hatch. Don't go too high. 85 to me is a little high. Have had eggs hatch at 75 but it tokk forever.

correction on the 2 degrees above or below 82. If below 82 a week longer for every 2 degress and if 2 degrees warmer a week shorter Of course there are variables in species on icubation times. ex: pines bulls gophers I've had took closer to 67-70 dyas at 82.

Many years ago, Erine Wagner(curator Woodland park zoo, ask the expert, and much more) and I juggled colubrid eggs to prove that point. And they hatched. I also have a pet ferret take a clutch of corn snake eggs and hide them on me. I found them, they were all full of holes, hmmmmmmm most hatched.

There is a optimum temp, for most eggs, low eighties is great for colubrid eggs, high eighties and low ninties, is too hot and it will actually take longer to hatch, cooler temps also take longer.

Snake eggs ability to maintain moisture is temperature related, the hotter they are, the less humidity they need. The cooler, the more. A working moisture level at 80F will cause the egg to drown or burst at 87F or so. The opposite is true, full eggs at a high temp will dent at lower temps.

In nature, they nest the eggs in bone dry areas that are humid. Nests in nature, have flucuating temps(at least around here). Wild colubrid eggs can hatch in 40 or so days or overwinter. So they indeed can work in a varity of contitions.

In this case, if the eggs were fine and the temps were dropped, the eggs can normally dent, but will fill out if the temps return to normal. But who knows, it could be a dead egg or a million other things. But your right, fertile strong eggs are hard to stop. Cheers

I must say that i have known a clutch of corn eggs salvaged from a bulldozer pile all hatched.C

I don't use an incubater but just put them in a plastic shoe box with a few small holes in the lid on the top shelf of my room

Yeah I can tell you crazy stuff I have done with my eggs and they still hatch.

One question though...Since we both are in the south do you have a problem with those knat flies? I stopped using holes on my boxes because of them and just open the lids periodically. However I am Not sure if this is safe?? I just wish I could get through one summer without a billion knats flying up my nose.
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I am in Fl and I haven't ever used holes in my egg boxes. I always just open them up on a schedule to refresh the air and check on the eggs. I haven't had any problems doing this at all.
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Remember, you truly only say goodbye in death!

I always just open them up on a schedule to refresh the air and check on the eggs. I haven't had any problems doing this at all.

I have done this to. But I have also lost entire clutches which may be due to lack of oxygen. How often do you open yours? I do it once a week.
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I do it at least once a week but I also try to use larger containers to keep extra air in. I really like the gladware containers for eggs.
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Remember, you truly only say goodbye in death!

When I lived over by Knotts Berry Farm. I/we(my homeys) used plastic bags like fish bags. We put sphagnmum moss in and the eggs, tied the opening in a knot, and waited for them to hatch. Which means we never had to let air in?????????

On a side note, a funny lesson was learned. The larger snakes hatched out of the bags too. hahahahahahaha Cheers.

Another Fishfarmer story was told to me by the SE largest African cichlid farmer that he found a clutch put a layer of dirt placed the eggs gave a shot of O2 closed the FULL bag with a rubber band and voila month or 2 later baby snakes

try cutting a few holes in the shoe box and gluing some window screen over it.

Once those little flys get in your egg substrate then seem to lay their own eggs in their and so on. You can also change the substrate the eggs are in.
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“Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!"”
Robin Williams

Doug L

You can also change the substrate the eggs are in.

I never thought of that. I will try that this year. Thanks!
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that is exactly what I have been doing for years. Allows a little ventilation, but keeps out the critters.
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Greg Jackson