Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK 1ST OFF THIS IS MY 1ST YR TO USE VERMICULITE TO INCUBATE EGGS IN.... SO I INQUIRED ABOUT THE SMELLS OF MOIST VERMICULITE AND WAS TOLD YEA IT REALLY SMELLS SO THAT BROUGHT SOME RELIEF.... BUT THE SMELL IN MY OTHER EGG BOXES ARE'NT THIS STINKY... SOME OF THE EGGS STILL APPEAR TO BE WET LOOKING AND REAL SOFT ON PARTS OF THEM.... AND SOME WERID LUMPS IN THEM BUT THEY HAD THOSE FROM THE START... IM HOPEING THOSE ARE JUST MINREAL DEPOSITS... I SEE NO SIGNS OF MOLD OR NETHING LIKE THAT... THEY ARE NOT WILTING OR SINKING IN..... THEY WERE LAID ON EASTER SUNDAY... IF THEY WERE INFERTILE I WOULD FOR SURE KNOW BY NOW BY THE ROTTEN EGG SMELL RIGHT? AND THEM JUST WILTING UP...? IF INDEED THESE ARE INFERTILE I HAVE NEVER SEEN A SLUG LIKE THIS.. COULD IT BE THAT THE VERMICULITE IS TO MOIST? AND CAN PARTS OF AN EGG STAY SOFT LIKE THAT AND STILL HATCH.... I HAVE NEVER HAD TO DEAL WITH AN INFERTILE EGG OR ONE GO BAD IS WHY I ASK... IF I HAVE THEY WERE DUDS RIGHT WHEN THEY WERE LAID.... PLEASE HELP.... THANX MIKE....
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Any vermiculite I've ever used has not had bad smell. One way to see if your eggs are fertile is to get a small flashlight and candle the eggs. Fertile eggs will show a network of blood vessels. Infertile eggs will glow yellow and show no veining. Your vermiculite should be moiste, but not wet. You should be able to sqeeze it into a clump, but not wring any water from it. Good luck and keep us posted.

Brandon Osborne

Sounds like your eggs(some) might be bad eggs. That would account for the smell. Vermiculite has it's own smell, but it is not a bad smell. Eggs should NOT BE SOFT. They should be leathery. Bad eggs CAN & WILL SMELL without mold.

Even if your vermiculite was too wet (hard to do) that would not cause the eggs to go bad, especially this early. Your vermiculite should be damp and you should have condensation on the sides of your containers, NO MOISTURE ON THE EGGS. Bad eggs can form moisture droplets on them.

Kerby...

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I don't associate smell with bad eggs--or mold, for that matter, though both happen eventually--as much as the appearance shortly after they're laid. Some of the characteristics you describe--soft, wet, lumps--would suggest those eggs are not good. I sometimes wait a day or two to see if an egg "firms up" (almost like it's being inflated, perhaps from absorbing moisture from the incubation medium, dunno) and the "skin" of the egg thickens and becomes leathery. But more often, those soft, wet eggs just stay that way or get worse, confirming the first instinct that they were bad. If they looked diff from your other eggs when they were laid, that was probably a good diagnosis. I hope i'm wrong.

peace
terry