Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Greetings,

Here's some pics of the eggs -- they're 2 weeks old

Should I cut out all of the dying matter around the "good" eggs underneath, or just let this go?

I'm fine with cutting my losses ... i don't see how these rotting ones can survive .. ???

Thanks for any help!

Hello, for starters what method of incubation are you using? And have you used this way succesfully before? In the pic it looks like some kind of water source is directly next to the eggs? I don't think that is a good idea if so. I have only hatched colubrid eggs, but I suggest a new post explaining what type of set up the eggs are in with details and hopefully someone can help you straighten things out. Good luck Tom

hovabator... the water is there because i was having humidity issues .. never done this before, so it's all new and a miserable defeat to me :/

Any recommendations on supressing the gag reflex?

Hello -

First off, there is nothing now viable in any of those discolored eggs. They should lift off very easily. I would suggest that you remove them so you won’t have to keep obsessing about whether or not they will harm the remaining possibly good eggs. Maybe they wouldn’t, but why worry yourself? You might just leave that one to the left of the temperature probe in place until it turns those pastel colors to reassure yourself that you didn’t remove it too soon.

Get some scissors and open up the bad eggs. Have a look inside; dump out the contents and thoroughly explore. Do you see any tiny, rolled-up, unpigmented embryos inside? Then maybe (not positively, but probably) next time you need to change some of your husbandry or incubation techniques. Or is there no sign of a snake inside? Then probably those eggs were not good to begin with, and even perfect incubation would not have produced a different result.

Did you candle the eggs before you set them up in the incubator? After you remove the “bad” eggs you can candle the remaining ones to see if you see the characteristic network of blood vessels of a well-started fertile egg. I ask about candling because, despite what some people say, it is not always possible to tell if the egg is good just from an exterior visualization. Without candling, I think we often set up eggs in the incubator that are not fertile, or that have not started developing (and never will) by the time the female deposits them. By the way, are you sure your thermometer is accurate? Could it be registering lower than the actual temperature?

Sorry for the lousy outcome. But as we always say in Chicago about the Cubs – wait ‘til next year!

-Joan

This is going to be SO gross.

I love your line about "obsessing"... HOW DID YOU KNOW!? LOL.

This is my first time incubating ... i got to these eggs late and it's been a nightmare the whole way thru. I was pretty unprepared and had never done this before, so i guess it's all a learning experience (*cries*)..

This is going to be absolutely disgusting.

Thanks, any other ideas welcomed!