Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I brought this up on here a couple years ago, but I figured I'd bring it up again. Just last night I got some fertile eggs from one of my locality kingsnake projects, but half of them have leaky spots, where the egg has apparently not properly calcified.

In my experience, these tend to continue leaking, mold over, and the egg usually dies before hatching.

Liquid Band-Aid was suggested the last time I posted about this, but the eggs I've tried it on still continued to leak, and eventually went bad. Has anyone tried anything else with success? Perhaps nail polish/clearcoat? Or some sort of tape/bandage?

Have tried liquid band aid then some tanactin? I bet something with real paint in it would harm the embryo as it absorbs the yolk but I am not sure..........
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

I never tried any Tinactin, but maybe I will go that route if I encounter mold.

I was thinking maybe a non-toxic nail polish or something. I would just experiment with a few different things, but I really don't want to mess up anything in this particular clutch.

I would bet some two-part epoxy type resin glue would bond to the porous egg fantastically and prevent any further leakage. Also it would be viscous enough when applied as to not leach internally into the egg itself.

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

How about super glue, after all that was the original intent of the super glue......gluing wounds back together in combat.

Kerby...
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>>How about super glue, after all that was the original intent of the super glue......gluing wounds back together in combat.
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>>Kerby...
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I would agree....I've used it on some of my wounds before.....Don't know how it will affect a snake embryo though if at all.....
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

What about Elmer's glue. If you get Elmer's Glue in your eye it doesn't sting where as the Super glue and other such glues sting like hell. If the glue can sting your eye think what it must do to embryos. The other glues are very fumy, too.
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

>>What about Elmer's glue. If you get Elmer's Glue in your eye it doesn't sting where as the Super glue and other such glues sting like hell. If the glue can sting your eye think what it must do to embryos. The other glues are very fumy, too.

What I want to know is how do you know that Elmer's doesn't sting your eye and Super Glue does?.........LMAO!!!
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

?? How do you know this. LOL.

What I want to know is how do you know that Elmer's doesn't sting your eye and Super Glue does?.........LMAO!!!
Well, since you asked...on long trucking hauls one needs to keep one's eyes open...

No, really, just get itch on eyelid while doing some little project involving adhesives
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

Black label.

Used to eat the stuff by the bottle as a kid. Now I use it on Python eggs all the time on any 'wet' spots or leaking areas. Plus it gives me a reason to keep it around just in case I get a hankering for a quick taste to relive my youth. If you've never tried it you should.

If any mold develops a dusting of antifungal foot powder usually takes care of it.

Black label.

Used to eat the stuff by the bottle as a kid. Now I use it on Python eggs all the time on any 'wet' spots or leaking areas. Plus it gives me a reason to keep it around just in case I get a hankering for a quick taste to relive my youth. If you've never tried it you should.
I have the Elmer's wood glue and it tastes vile! Had to try! LOL! I will get some of the Elmer's school glue and see what that tastes like...there was a library paste in a jar when I was little that was fun to eat (circa late '40's-early '50's)

Eggs are fine, don't expect I will need the school glue this year but it never hurts to have it on hand.
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

I've had that happen (spots) but can't remember any leaking. They seem to calcify on their own with time? And others still had those "windows" until they hatched....thing is...the eggs are not as "solid" as you might think anyway... and I think anything that actually seals perfectly might not work either. A bandage type thing might be better than a sealer? In the past, I have tried a few things with some success but I really have no idea if I actually did anything to help, ya know?
I have covered spots w/calcium even....a few have hatched... but would they have anyway? Probably.
I also have just buried the egg completely in the media and have had mixed results...so..I'm not any help.Sorry. Maybe someone has a definite help here....turtle eggs are different but I've seen some patched up and hatched....
Good luck and let us know what happens.
BTW Nick, send me your email address again...
:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

crimsonking.piczo.com/

I wonder if you could get some tissue paper and soak it in egg yolk and patch it up.....

I used to cut open snake eggs and patch the slits back up with tissue paper soaked in the snake's egg yolk....It was easy for the snake to push open and held the egg all together.......

This year I had a whole clutch of eggs with the ends oozing......Only three crusted over while the others shriveled and molded over........
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

...wonder if the low calcification would mark poor calcium in the embryo as well.....and later problems...
:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

crimsonking.piczo.com/

>>...wonder if the low calcification would mark poor calcium in the embryo as well.....and later problems...

I dunno, but I wonder why only one or two out of 40 females have this problem when they are all kept and fed the same..........
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

I've gotten a lot of eggs from WC gravid snakes, and I don't think I've ever had one egg from one of those come out with an oozing window, so to speak.

A friend of mine once suggested supplementing the mice with vitamins, and that would improve egg quality. I don't know, but I guess it couldn't hurt.

>>I've gotten a lot of eggs from WC gravid snakes, and I don't think I've ever had one egg from one of those come out with an oozing window, so to speak.
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>>A friend of mine once suggested supplementing the mice with vitamins, and that would improve egg quality. I don't know, but I guess it couldn't hurt.

WC snakes always lay good clutches it seems. I would think a light Calcium dusting during breeding season couldn't hurt? You don't want to over do it, so the eggs become to calcified, and the babies can't cut thru. But if I had a female that gave me eggs with low calcified eggs, I would definately use it on her.
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
Jorge Sierra

My Site > www.Sierrasnakes.com

Maybe these one or two females are the canaries in the coal mine. Or maybe these individuals have higher requirements for nutrients than the others.
www.rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_03.asp
Maybe it would help to feed them lizards, which seem to be higher in calcium, if I am reading this chart right.
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

That is a good point. I use Liquid band aid on any cracked turtle eggs I get and it works great. I just dry off the eggs around the crack as best as I can and then apply it.
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Gerard
www.livebaitclip.com
"Stupid people do stupid things. Smart people out smart each other and then themselfs" System

>>I brought this up on here a couple years ago, but I figured I'd bring it up again. Just last night I got some fertile eggs from one of my locality kingsnake projects, but half of them have leaky spots, where the egg has apparently not properly calcified.
>>
>>In my experience, these tend to continue leaking, mold over, and the egg usually dies before hatching.
>>
>>Liquid Band-Aid was suggested the last time I posted about this, but the eggs I've tried it on still continued to leak, and eventually went bad. Has anyone tried anything else with success? Perhaps nail polish/clearcoat? Or some sort of tape/bandage?
>>
>>

two ways i used to do it for turtles:

1 a thin ring of petroleum jelly around the site w/ a saran wrap "cap" cut to size and placed over the defect

2 same thing except using super glue instead of p.j.

gently wipe the defect area clean of dirt. don't get the glue/jelly on the defect. set the cap down and kind of smooth it over the site. then tell the eggs to hurry up and hatch.

both have worked in the past, hope your eggs do well with or with out this sort of sorcery/alchemy.

daveb
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odelay odelay odelay hee hoooo...
heeeeya huhhhh!
~Back in the saddle (Aerosmith)

I would not have thought of that, but it sounds logical enough to work!
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
Jorge Sierra

My Site > www.Sierrasnakes.com

I had patches turn up all over my one clutch(about have way through incubation, could see straight into the eggs)I used q-tips to dab off moisture from the patches, every time they beaded up and dripped, and I kept the vermiculite around the eggs moist. It was tedious and alot of careful work, but all 5 babys hatched big and healthy right on 60 days, at room temperature(in the reptile room, mid low 70's at night, mid 80's day). I didn't get any mold either(only on the one bad egg, and I used q-tips again to keep the mold down, it never touched the other eggs). Good luck, hope they make it!

Nick... never tried yet, but was reading the label of a fast drying drywall plaster (powder). Looked interesting. Since the hurricanes here in Florida they even have fungal resistant properties

also - have a buddy who uses patches of medical bandage then crazy glued on damaged iguana and tortoise eggs for years

Thanks for all the great answers everyone. I have lost an annoying number of eggs to this problem over the past few years, so it is nice to have a few more tried and tested options.

Fortunately, with the clutch in question, the eggs seem to have healed themselves, which is quite a relief. Now just 8 weeks of waiting...