Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys. I currently have two clutches in my incubator.They came from same father, but two different girls. They actually laid on the same day too.......which I found very rare. Anyways, they've been incubating for a little over 2 weeks now. All of them are still nice and white (they dont seem like they're infertile), but some of them are actually folding up. They are almost perfectly folded in the middle of the egg. They look like little sea shells. lol. Is that bad? When I used to produce various retics, burms, and balls, I never had eggs do this. Is this normal? Despite the fact the eggs look nice and white, could this mean that they are not fertile? What's up with this? Thanks for the help.

The folding as you call it is not normal and most likely the eggs have failed. If they were plump and white when you put them in it's likely that they were ferile.

My best guess is that there is a problem with the substrate, container, and/or humidity level. Perhaps you could post a picture of your set up and list the temp. and humidity specs.

They're in a Juragon micro processor incubator. Temps at 84-85 and humidity at 86 (although it jumped two days ago to 88% for some reason). I can't think of the name of the incubation substrate I'm using. It's that white stuff that supposedly is great for incubating reptiles. It's the first time I've used it. I always used vermiculite for my snakes, but was told this stuff is the best. Tonight, I'll try to take some pics of them and post them.

humidity in the egg container should be as close to 100% as possible. Are the eggs right in the incubator or are they in a deli dish of some sort, in the incubator? The deli dish (or other plastic container) should have only one or two small holes for ventilation.

The incubation medium you are describing sounds like either perlite or 'Hatchrite' both of which should be fine. As your eggs are dimpling, add a little more water to the incubation medium (not on the eggs themselves. If you do get some water on the eggs, use a papertowel to dry it off, being careful not to turn the egg)
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PHLdyPayne

Both clutches are in two different dishes, but they are not enclosed. I just did that so that I can tell which eggs is from which clutch. So, what you're saying is I need to raise the humidity? and Yea, I have them in hatchrite

I would always put them in a container with a lid inside the incubator. This keeps the temp. and humidity from dramatic changes when the lid is opened on the incubator. Also the smaller amount of air in a continer will keep the container more humid and cause less evaporation.

I mark the container lids with the weight and then periodically reweigh the containers and replace the water lost.

CAN I STILL DO THIS WITHOUT HURTING THE EGGS?

LdyPayne said "dimpling" which would be a slight indent. If yours are folded like a shell I think your efforts will be too late. You could try. Just be careful and don't turn the eggs.

My vet tripped with a whole container of Cal. King Snake eggs and they all flew on the floor. We picked them up and put them back in the container and 1/2 still hatched out normal. You just never know.

I have had eggs "crinkle/dimple" down to almost nothing. I simply upped the humidity and the eggs bounced back...I have only hatched out 2 clutches of BD eggs so far...but i have found that they are quit resiliant. I would up humidity and see what happens. Good luck.