Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Strange thing is this morning I gave the medium a little misting maybe a few little drops of mist hit the eggs. As soon as it did a few minutes later the eggs started showing purple spots.

I assume this is mold, today would be day-10 in the incubator.

Don't worry, they are "windows", just thinner spots in the eggs, and perfectly normal. Those eggs that are still a bit dented in need more moisture....

best of luck,

K. Royer

>>Strange thing is this morning I gave the medium a little misting maybe a few little drops of mist hit the eggs. As soon as it did a few minutes later the eggs started showing purple spots.
>>
>>I assume this is mold, today would be day-10 in the incubator.
>>
>>
>>

Damon,

First and foremost - RELAX! Take a deep breath, have a cup of decaf coffee and clear your mind.

I think your eggs look fine. This is what I suggest:

1) Your vermiculite mixture should be moist (not wet) enough that when you squeeze it in your hands, it will hold its crumpled form. If this is not the case, remove as much as you can, put it in another container and slowly mix in luke-warm water until this mixture is achieved.

2) Put the vermiculite back in with the eggs. I like to cover my eggs roughly 1/2 - 3/4 of the way. IMHO, your eggs are not covered enough. Also, add plenty of vermiculite around the egg container. This will help with the humidity.

3) If you are using a Hovobator with the turbo fan, disconnect it. It will dry out your eggs faster. If you cannot disconnect it, you will have to add water more frequently - maybe once every 2-3 weeks. If you disconnect the fan, air out the container twice per week. I do this on my back porch and the temps stay constant.

4) Do not directly mist the eggs. I will mist around the outside perimiter of the eggs. You should only have to add water once (if at all) during the incubation process.

5) Dented eggs ARE NOT a problem. Some eggs dent early on for no apparent reason. If one or two are slightly dented, I would not lose sleep. If ALL are dented or denting, then consider that you may not have enough humidity.

HTH
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Jay A. Martin

I've seen much much worse hatch fine. Really, the worst thing you can do at this point is try to over manage them. They really dont need daily attention. I like what you're doing with the damp paer towel. Change it every few days and otherwise leave them alone! Don't even look. I remember the first clutch I incubated. I was checking on them daily, fiddling with the substrate moisture, etc. I ended up having 2 eggs die, 1 full term dead in egg, and a few minor defects. Change is bad. When you're in the egg box every day your temps and humidity vary too much. I now look in on eggs about once a week to 10 days, and have much better results. I know its hard, but try to be as hands off as possible. 10 days in, those eggs all appear to be alive and well. Relax, hang in there....and did I mention, don't try to overmanage! Good luck! Joe
Joe Pociask Pythons

I know what you mean, but damn that's tough! I have windows on my incubators. It would drive me nuts not to look. I'm not as bad as I used to be - I would wake up at all hours of the night just to look. LOL

But you are correct - don't overmanage.
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Jay A. Martin

Yep...thats the only way I can manage to not overmanage...LOL. Seriously though, I put the eggs in the egg box, close it up, and leave it alone for a few days. If everything is good after a few days, then I don't even open the incubator for another week or so. Really, if the incbation system is squared away, what do you really need to do? After about 6 weeks or so, I look in about twice a week...to insure air exchange. And finally, after about day 50 or so, I do get a quick peek daily just to see if anybody is having a birthday.

Good news before the egg had those deep purple marks, and now the marks are going away.

I can't beleive that just because a slight mist of cool water hit the egg that those DEEP PURPLE spots appeared.

Cannot give you a photo because I am not taking the lid off of the incubator ANYMORE.

I'm not going to touch the eggs anymore, and take the advice of not LOOKING at them much anymore. I will only check the temps a few times a day.

Thanks so much for putting up with me guys, I just want these baby snakes really more then anything I have ever wanted in my life, that really is the truth. Thanks for understanding.

Just a note on checking temps. I use an electronic thermometer with an external probe. The incubator is in a closet, which further isolates it from temperature fluctuations. The probe is in the egg box, an the incubator, and the thermometer itself is mounted outside the closet. I can check my temps everytime I walk past the incubator, and I dont even have to open the door to the closet. I would reccomend getting away from the hovabators next year. I know alot of folks use them, but they scare the begeezus out of me. E-mail me and I can explain how to make a simple, extremely reliable incubator with a large capacity. Take care...

look ok to me yet...except they may be too....wet........

......one in back is wet....spots are from wetness....

......you may be drowning them?......

.......recheck required moisture....
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