Reptile & Amphibian Forums

they are 60ish days old and are bulging in places. i think the problem is that theyre too moist. the humidity lvl is 85%. i used paper towel to sponge the soil and soaked up the water on the lid and sides. the eggs have not ruptured yet, but it looks bad. im not sure what it is. also, there is an egg that is smaller then the others but isnt rotting or leaking so i keep it in there. the temp outsode the box is 75 f. i know its a little low, but will they be ok? i will post pics as soon as i get them loaded. please let me know what you guys think.

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Well, they don't look real great, but the two white ones on each side are going to have the best chance of making it. The really thin one is a dud, and the middle one looks like it has gone bad later on. But at this point, change the substrate to a drier mix like I mentioned before, this is your best shot at any recovery. they absorbed quite a bit of moisture.

I always add just enough water to make it barely clump together when squeezed tightly with a fist, and I do mean BARELY! you must mix the water VERY gradually and VERY thoroughly a tiny bit at a time, or before you know it, there is too much water. This has worked absolutely perfect for me for MANY years of hatching countless hundreds of eggs in the past. Do this as soon as possible!

Actually, at this point you really shouldn't even have to add ANY water now, I was just describing how to mix it from the very beginning. Those eggs should have PLENTY(if not already too much) water in them. So just let them use up what they already have.

This is easy enough to judge too, if they start dimpling(which they won't) then you would normally ad a bit of water, but you don't want any more at all at this point.

good luck, and let us know what happens later on.

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Well, they can many times tend to look a little bulged and weird shaped from absorbing moisture, and they can stand this to a certain degree, but on the same token, if too much moisture is absorbed, they can(as you mentioned) tend to swell too much and sweat or leak endangering the embryo inside. This can certainly lead to their drowning too.

If you haven't already done something about it, and they look like they are about to their rupturing point, I would certainly take the eggs out and replace the substrate with a dryer mixture of incubating substrate. Since they are this far along and in their later stages of development, they should be just fine until they hatch. That is unless this swelling didn't already kill them.

75 degrees as you said is just a little cooler than it could be, but slightly cooler is ALWAYS better than too warm. It will take just a few more days to hatch is all. I would say that in a week or so, they should start hatching, but this can depend on what species/ssp. it is, etc..

good luck!, ~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

theyre everglade x black rat snake eggs.

and please look at the links i posted for the pictures, do you think theyre past the tipping point?
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