Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a clutch in the incubator for just over a week now. When they were laid, some were good and some didn't look so good; but they were all attached to each other and I couldn't separate them so I put them all in the incubator. Today I checked on them and some appear to be moldy and growing fuzz. Should I be concerned? All the eggs are stuck together; will the one's with the fuzz affect the good eggs? Any advice or help is greatly appreciated and needed!

Thanks,
Jim

The moldy/fuzzy ones are not necessarily bad. Check my most recent post on the king snake forum. One of my two fuzzy eggs hatched, and two eggs stuck to it were also fine.

I have also seen pics posted of really awful looking eggs with babies crawling out of them.

One thing to watch is too much moisture. Four of my altena eggs had dead almost full term babies in them, and I suspect I had the vermiculite too wet.
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Kent

1.1 Hypo (het lavender, striped) corn snakes, 2010
1.2 Gray-banded king snakes, blairs phase, 2008
0.0.10 Gray-banded king snakes, 2011
1.1 Oregon rubber boas, w/c 2000 and something

Colossians 3:17

>>The moldy/fuzzy ones are not necessarily bad. Check my most recent post on the king snake forum. One of my two fuzzy eggs hatched, and two eggs stuck to it were also fine.
>>
>>I have also seen pics posted of really awful looking eggs with babies crawling out of them.
>>
>>One thing to watch is too much moisture. Four of my altena eggs had dead almost full term babies in them, and I suspect I had the vermiculite too wet.
>>-----
>>Kent
>>

I've had eggs, in a cluster, go bad but obviously couldn't remove them. The other eggs hatched without problem. Just keep an eye on them, the good eggs should do well.
Kent I agree 100%. I believe a lot of people incubate in/with too much moisture. I've done it. I would notice eggs swelling and getting large thinking "oh boy look how those are growing" only to have them go full term only to die. I started thinking that too much moisture was impeding the embryo's growth So I went the other way. For several years now I have been incubating as dry as possible. As a matter of fact, after I set up my egg containers and set them on the shelves this season, I have not added water to any of them...all around 55 to 60 plus days now.
I have found the drier the better. As long as the eggs don't begin to dimple from lack of moisture no water is added. I don't care how dry the sphagnum moss looks, no dimpling no water.
That is why I prefer sphagnum moss, to me it is easier to regulate and actually see how moist or dry it is.
We'll see what happens this year but over the last three seasons I've had around a 95% hatch rate.

drier is gooder...LOL

sorry to ramble

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Corn snakes and rat snakes...No one can have just one.
"Resistance is futile"
Jimmy Johnson
Draybars Snakes

Guys - thanks for the input. I'll keep my fingers crossd and hopefully in a few weeks I'll have some photos to post.

Thanks again,
Jim

>>Guys - thanks for the input. I'll keep my fingers crossd and hopefully in a few weeks I'll have some photos to post.
>>
>>Thanks again,
>>Jim

good luck
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Corn snakes and rat snakes...No one can have just one.
"Resistance is futile"
Jimmy Johnson
Draybars Snakes