Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey All!

I have my very first clutch due to hatch in about 12 or so days!
YAYYYYY, I'm SO EXCITED, you don't even know It's a Pastel girl x (Pastel/Pewter/Pinstripe) boy. She laid 9/15/09.

However, I've been reading that dead eggs are supposed smell and seep? This egg does not smell, and I've stuck my nose up to it pretty darn close. (almost touching)

I do not think this egg will hatch - but i'm interested and curious if anyone has had an egg look this bad, and actually hatch. I am also concerned about the sibling egg next to it. I've tried delicately seperating the brown egg, but I am too scared to use force. I could use advice on this too!

Also, I used a homemade incubator with a zoomed heat mat and a home thermostat from Home depot!

Thanks in advance for any insight!!!!!!!
Have a wonderful day!

Brown egg

All eggs

Inside of Incubator & Egg container

Puma and her eggs

Brown egg

All eggs

Inside incubator & egg container

Puma with her eggs

That egg is dead, it won't hatch. The other eggs around it should be fine. Here's a pic of a similar egg in a clutch that I had:

By the time it went bad it was too late to pull it out of the clutch safely. All of the other eggs hatched just fine:

Good luck!
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-Jeff
http://jefflumanreptiles.com

Compared to yours, my eggs are so dented!

I was hoping that because 4 of them are still white, and made it this far, that they might still be fine.

May be the eggs are under stress from my thrown-together incubator. I wish I had a better one (incubator) on hand! I had tested the "project" incubator out last January, but did not take into consideration the difficulties in getting the proper humidity levels with the acrylic "windows" that I installed on the top of the egg box and on the top of the cooler. It is like a direct path for cool air to enter the top of the incubator; with warm air coming from the bottom, to create a condensation nightmare.

I was actually surprised with eggs this past september. I tried to breed them - and never saw a lock up with any of the males - except for one time.
That lock-up happened in March! By her behavior and shed cycle - I expected her to lay in late June. This is why I am a first timer!

I will do things different next time
Thanks for sharing your pics!!!!!!

Actually, I think all of those eggs look pretty bad. Eggs do dimple a bit when they get close to hatching, but I've never gotten anything alive out of eggs that looked that dehydrated.

Yeah,,, I think they looked too dented in.......... They have for over a month now.

There is plenty of water in the substrate in the egg container. Actually, there is SITTING water at the bottom of the container.
I also tried putting glasses of water in the incubator to help.

We shall see, I guess.

well, I'm crossing my fingers for you. It would be a shame to get this far and not get anything.

Sometimes covering them with a slightly damp paper towel helps.

My incubator just stinks. Big time.

Anything that stinks is dead - you can throw it out. If it will make you feel better with 9 days left you can cut open the brown egg and see that it's gone before you toss it so you know for sure. If you don't feel comfortable peeling it away - just cut it away from the remaining eggs - you can leave the bit attached to the other eggs still attached but with the dead egg gone the incubator will smell much better. If you want you can even cut a little slit in the top of all the eggs to make sure the other babies are still alive.

Good luck.
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Tosha
JET Pythons
Toshas Blog

Herp Medicine does not equal a bottle of Baytril - Dr. Scott Stahl

Thanks for your suggestion!

My incubator never smelled, I just ment that it "stinks" as in it "sucks!"

I did cut away the brown egg, and it was definately dead like we all thought! The reason why it didn't smell, is that it appeared COOKED!!!! It was a solid soft mass, that didn't ooze or seep as I expected it too, when I cut it open. I did find an embryo, and it was very underdeveloped and small. I wonder why it all didn't just start rotting though.........?

I'm still too hesitant to cut into the others though,,,, afraid I will ruin them no matter how much anyone convinces me that I wont. I guess I seem irrational about it in a way..... I will definately feel better about slitting them in a week.

If I do have any live babies, I will surely share the pics

Thanks again!

I don't have enough experience to tell you what to do about the bad egg, but with my first clutch, I had a some eggs die do to the substrate being too moist, and I used waxed dental floss to separate the eggs from eachother. I feel your excitement...I do remember my first clutch.....all the eggs died but the one that was sitting on top I got one baby out of 7 eggs...It was so disheartening, but I got valuable education from it. Good luck!

Matt Z.

I will try that!

I was using a Q-tip to try to delicately wedge them apart, but I think I will try to lace some dental floss in between them tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestion!

Hopefully, as they get closer to hatching, they will start to seperate on their own; and I won't have to worry about the bad egg affecting the others.

I'm not sure how the bad egg will affect the others in this stage of the game; seeing as how they are not that far away from hatching - but I surely don't want the bad one to poison the others.

I can't wait to see what will hatch!

So, I tried the dental floss today, and no luck.

They are attatched too much. I used slight pressure and slid the dental floss all around the attatchment point, but didn't feel a "safe" give.

While I was in there, I also tried candling. I can still see some veins on the top of all the white eggs.

The eggs also seem to be slightly more tender/flexible than before.

Thanks for everyone's insight!

When I first tried to introduce a male to her, she was 1418g in October of 2008.

She quit feeding at that time, and did not eat again until January 16, 2009.

She resumed eating, and had 11 small to med rats until April 20, 2009.

On April 23, 2009 - she weighed 1853g. She did not eat again till after she laid her eggs this past September!!!!!!

Her eggs weighed 455g!!!!! (all 5 of them)
She weighed 1169g after laying them!!!!!!

SOOOOOO, BASICALLY------- HOW AMAZING! That she didn't eat for like 6 months!, & made eggs that weighed almost 1/3 her body weight! In 6 mos., she only used up about 230g to live and metabolize energy for egg production!!!!! (I'm not counting the weight transfer from body to eggs, only the energy expenditure)

She is now up to 1651g as of 10/27! She eats more eagerly than ever before

Ball Pythons are just amazing....

The brown egg will not effect the other eggs, but you might if you try to seperate them!

.;.............Wow

...anyways....

the brown dead egg will affect the others , it is already turning the one above it brown also....it will sweat and bacteria will come with the sweat....also the egg on top is dehydrated way to much already....and is probably dead also?...my opinion.......they are all too dry.......

anyways...........dental floss is a way to cut them apart...

how long do they ahve to go yet>?....I didn't read it all...and probably missed it.....sorry....

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They have about 11 days or so to go!

I hope something hatches!