Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How do you guys go about separating eggs when they're really stuck? (i.e. My splendida layed sometime while at work yesterday, and were REALLY stuck together by the time I got home)

Normally, wouldn't care, but 1/2 of them look like slugs and don't want them to mold/stink up the good ones. (the one solo slug in the picture is in another box)

The dud she dumped this past Saturday took all of 2 days to completely cover with mold and got REALLY stinky- fortunately, it was all alone...)

Thanks,
//Todd

Throw away those 4 beige ones and keep the five White ones
As far as seperating a clutch from a pile stuck together dont ,just inc. as if single

Well, I have to separate them first and don't want to damage the good/white ones! That's why I asked!

Thanks,
//Todd

cut the bad egg apart leaving as smallest chunk as possible attached to the good egg. swab a little listerine on the bad shell fragment. this worked for me years ago. best of luck. theOLDherper

Hi,

Separating eggs is very easy if you have patience. First, slugs are usually easier to separate from good eggs, much easier than pulling apart two good eggs. Just hold both and apply a little separating pressure to both eggs. You will see the adhesion slowly give and they will slowly pull apart. I like to hold both eggs as close to the point where they are joined as possible, one seems to get a bit better leverage that way. If you apply pressure slowly and gently the eggs will easily come apart with no harm coming to the good eggs. I have done this with thousands of eggs and have only had one eggshell tear because I got cocky and applied too much pressure too fast. Good luck.

Will

Yes, that is EXACTLY how it should be done, and I have done that very same technique many countless times as well. As you mentioned, it is ALL ABOUT gently gripping BOTH eggs as close to where they are joined as possible, and very slowly applying a gentle, steady, even pull until the eggs part.

However(and I think you will also agree), this only needs to be done in certain instances, like where an egg is attached to another way up in the air all by itself, with no way to absorb the proper amount of moisture like the rest of the clutch.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Those "up in the air" eggs are easy to deal with. I put the clump in a deli cup with moist paper towel below and above. With paper towels its EASY to see imperfections and discolorations. Its easy to see those tiny egg cases of carrion flies that can burrow under buried eggs and have killed off many eggs. In fact using moss or vermiculite has been known to introduce other pests such as mites as well. Incubation can be done many different ways, I house mine on paper towels anyways so this is the best for me.

Yeah, when eggs are all sorts of stuck together, and still very high above the rest of the pile, I often simply drape some fluffed-up moistened sphagnum moss over them.

Like you said, there are many different ways to do certain things to achieve the same goal, it is mostly about some good common sense really.

Where I incubate my eggs, I don't ever have to worry about carrion flies either, so that is a big plus too. I always like to check them out on a fairly steady regimen anyway, so I very rarely have any problems of any kind, unless the eggs simply weren't viable to begin with.

anyway, yes, whatever works is always a good path to stay on!

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Hi Doug,

Yes, I should have also mentioned that I only separate eggs when necessary, like, as you stated when one is stuck up at the top of a clutch above the substrate, or when one is attatched to an obviously dead egg. Thank you sir.

Will

Hey!, do you still have your Outer Banks going in your collection of stuff?

I also had a couple featured in Hubbs' excellent kingsnake book..LOL!

Those tiny rascals are really getting some major size going on them now. There is definitely the possibility that they might even breed this year if all goes well.

Here is a pic of the tiny 7 gram aberrant/striped runt that was in the book, taken many months ago!

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Hi Doug,

A couple of mine are in the getula "bible" as well. I dig the aberrancies in your Outer Banks kings. Are they from Bartlett stock? Very, very nice.

I gave my buddy Howie Sherman a very light, striped/aberrant male obk at the expo last year. He was my main breeder until my 20 year old female died right after a big meal last spring (striking obk in Hubbs' book and below). I am currently raising up a nice high speck, classic obk to replace my old girl (I should have considered holding more back years ago-duh). I also still have a really nice 100% speckled Bartlett male to eventually breed her to, so I should be back in the obk game in no time.

Will

Thanks guys (Will),
That's exactly what I did yesterday and was able to successfully separate the slugs from the good eggs without any problems.

I was just paranoid about tearing the good eggs in the process, but was much easier than I thought...

//Todd

If they don't pull apart, just cut as much as you can off with scissors and rins off the yoke with water. Always works for me.
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"If they don't pull apart, just cut as much as you can off with scissors and rins off the yoke with water. Always works for me"

That is more great advice Mike!. Yes, I have done the very same to get rid of a bad egg from other good remaining one's in the past. As you mentioned, this works like a total charm!

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com