Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys its the worry wart again. But this time I have some reason to be a little upset.

One of my young normal 2002 females aprox 1700 grams but a heavy fat 1700 grams dropped a clutch of eggs on June 30th 2004.

There were 5 eggs and 1-slug. The eggs were smaller then my first clutch. The eggs look more round then oval compared to the larger female's clutch.

Also the eggs took on a pinkish hue from day #1.

I lost one of the eggs a few weeks back, it now is completly moldy and green.

At first this egg just dented in on top, it sorta looked like a sink hole or as if someone pressed it in with there finger. Here is a photo of the egg from a few weeks ago.

This egg is now a moldy green mess.

Well I can take losing one, since I still had 4 left.

But now 3 other eggs all have taken on the same little dent.

I am so afraid that in a few days there going to get that green ring around the dent and then I will now for sure that they are dead.

Only 1 egg still looks normal with NO denting.

Humidity and medium are correct. Incubating in the same exact setup that I used for my first clutch that had a 100% hatch.

I candled the eggs last night and there are VEINS running through the remaining eggs. I only wish I candled the first egg that died.

But who knows maybe that egg was fertile also. If the egg has died a few days prior can you still see the veins?

Man I am so bummed out, I was hoping to maybe hatch a pastel or two this season with my only pastel clutch, after not hatching a single albino from my last clutch.

The female of this clutch is a nice cranberry red with nice blushing and I was hoping with the Pastel father that I could have gotten some nice babies.

If you want I can take more updated photos if needed.

Thanks as always for and input you can give me.

I might be wrong but don't they dent in some time after 30 days? or are they doing the denting and turning green?

I lost one of my 7 eggs this weekend, it candled good up to last week and then it started growing mold and when I recandled it no more veins. I thought I would lose my window egg but it is still hanging in there, just crossing my fingers that I don't lose anymore either.

I have no idea how to correct it when using substrate. I have been using a no substrate method since I started breeding.

Best of luck with that clutch.
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www.NEWReptiles.com

I am no expert on incubating ball eggs, but I have incubated many other species and currently have 6 ball eggs incubating (on their 7th week), along with many dozens of other snakes/geckos/a few monitors. --all are doing great!

It looks to me like your medium is way too wet. (I am basing this on the amount of condensation that I can see on the lid.) I know you said that it was correct, but that depends on the way you heat your incubator.

I don't bother weighing medium and water anymore, I just go by feel, but I do add water if there isn't enough condensation, or wipe off water/leave the lid off for a while if there is too much.

(Note--the condensation varies a lot if you have temperature fluctuations/bottom heat/etc.) Bottom heat will evaporate the water, and it will then condense on the cooler lid. This tends to give you dry vermiculite on the bottom, and wet vermiculite/eggs on the top. This is the exact opposite of what you want! Fluctuating temps. will cause this heavy condensation for a similar reason. I assume you have this egg container inside an incubator that is a fairly constant temp.? If you are not using bottom heat, and you have a constant temp., it is simply too wet.

I like to make my vermic. extra wet, then place another inch of dry vermic on top, then place the eggs on top of the dry vermic., and add the lid. This keeps the humidity high, while keeping the eggs dry. This will give very similar conditions to the "non-medium" method of incubating.

Slightly higher humidity at hatching time may help the babies to slit the eggs easier. (this works great with parrots)

Rodney

How old is the clutch and when is it due to hatch? Most eggs will dent in a little bit a week or so before they hatch. I agree with the others, it looks too wet in the pic, but if that was taken a couple weeks ago thats probably not the problem..... In any case there is not much you can do now so there is no sense worrying about it at this point.... You really are getting really worked up and are probably developing ulcers over this aren't you? Have you ever thought about selling your snakes and taking up needlepoint? Just a thought....

VOT