Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I would appreciate those of you who are expereince to lend a little knowledge. I notice that most people incubate their eggs lying on their side. to be more specific, the eggs are placed in such a way that you would not find your chiken egss in the refirgerator rested on its holder.Is it absoluetly necesary to incubate the egss this way? Is itpossible to incubate eggs in a position where they are up right?

if i have been incubating my eggs upright for about three weeks now, should i leave it that way, or change the orientation to it lying down?

Also, has anyone ever had success saving any eggs that are mouldy? Or is it 100% that mouldy eggs will die or is already dead? if there is a way of removing mould, how do you do it?

This information may be coming to you a little late I guess. When I uncover the eggs, I do it very carefully. I try to pick the egg up just as it is lying in the digging substrate. Without turning it, I place it in the vermiculite, perlite or whatever. There is an air pocket within the egg and if you turn the egg you might suffocate the embryo.

Sometimes there isn't anything that you can do to stop the mold. In most cases this means that the eggs are not fertile.
However, sometimes you can sprinkle or spray athlete's foot powder, like Dr. Scholls on the eggs and kill the mold.

Good luck, I hope they turn out.

Thanks for your input,

I'd like to hear from reptayls and Eric about their expereinces..

I have successfully incubated eggs in a horizontal and vertical position. It is usually safe in the horizontal position as there is less chance of the eggs moving. When eggs are first laid and dug up it usually is not a problem with moving them as they are still in a diapause period. But after three weeks of the eggs incubating in one position it is not recommended to move them as the diapause may have broken (depending on the species). We have had eggs that looked awful and were covered with mold hatch perfectly and other that were moldy die. We usually recommend leaving the eggs until there is absolutely no doubt they have gone bad. As a matter of fact we had a clutch of Flap Necks (C.Dilepis) hatch even though all of the eggs were covered in 2 different molds.
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Rob Trenor
RK Reptiles
www.rkreptiles.com
www.oldworldchameleons.com
www.ballpythonmorphs.net

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Signature edited to remove advertising comments.

Edited on January 25, 2004 at 18:57:36 by phwyvern.