Reptile & Amphibian Forums

(7 eggs laid July 13) well I am losing eggs, I check them on Saturdays and Wednesdays. Last week on wed all candled fine, on saturday one was growing mold and no longer showed veins, all the other eggs still had veins.

Well tonight 2 more were growing mold and candled no veins. 2 other eggs are getting real hard to see veins, I am guessing they are the next to go.

wonder what I am doing wrong. I am using the hovabator with the fan disconnected (3 extension rings to give room), verm/pearl mix (mixed as suggested on the ball python video) temps right around 88.6 degrees, my cheap little humidity cage shows right around 80% humidity.

hummm...this sucks
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Misty Sprouse Ball Pythons

My advise is to just leave them be unless there is an obvious dud in the bunch an initial candeling should be all that is needed to determine whether or not you have fertile eggs to begin with after that just let them incubate and look in on them every couple of days to be sure there areent any rotting eggs in there

I don't really mess with them I just open them up to give fresh air 2 times a week, do a quick temp check and quick candling once in awhile, but the egg mold has been what made me candle them the last couple checks (then I close them up again).

humm

Thanks, Christy

np

do you have air holes in the egg container(s)??
with some air holes you wont need to keep opening the incubator so often, thus fluctuating temps

TomChambers

How old and big were the male and female that were bred to make the clutch?? Maybe the male wasn't producing sperm plugs or the female too young?? If the eggs are dropping that fast, one way or the other, they have to be infertile...That seems like the only probable cause...You temps and humidity are good, so you are doing your end of the breeding....hmmmmm...Weird..
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www.bustyballpythons.com

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signature edited for tos violation.

Edited on August 12, 2004 at 09:29:34 by phwyvern.

Sorry, but I must ad my 0.02 now.

"How old and big were the male and female that were bred to make the clutch?? Maybe the male wasn't producing sperm plugs or the female too young?? If the eggs are dropping that fast, one way or the other, they have to be infertile...That seems like the only probable cause..."

The size/age are not a factor now that fertile eggs were laid.

I can't help but think that if the male wasn't pushing plugs there would be no fertile eggs. She did tell us there were vessels....If the eggs were vested, they should hatch unless there are other problems.

I feel the best solution would be to tend to the eggs that still have signs of life, and hope for the best. Try to figure out if they may be to wet, or maybe too cool.
Do you have a thermometer on that specific clutch?
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www.NEWReptiles.com

just to let you know the parents were two of my oldest and biggest ball pythons (maybe around 10 years old). All 7 were good when laid.

I have a temp gage on them all the time and I when I refresh the air I check the temps with my temp gun.

well this is my learning clutch as it is my first, if they make it they will be normals.

At what location are you measuring the temps? Using the expansion rings moves the heat away from the bottom of the incubator.
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Jay A. Martin

I use the temp gun on each of the eggs. They are in a bigger container and are closer to the top of the incubator than the bottom.

My guess from everyone's comments is that I shouldn't have been checking them 2 times a week since I had a few small holes in the top of the container which I guess would have been good enough. Also maybe my medium was too wet but who knows, the hard part of this is that you may never know what exactly went wrong it is all guesses.

depending on the temp of the outside air, should not be detrimental. Perhaps it was too wet. Warm, wet conditions are a breeding ground. I hope the rest workout.
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Jay A. Martin

substrate moisture issues (too dry, and more commonly too wet), as well as "overmedling". I made the same mistakes with my first clutch, and lost 2 of 10 eggs, and had 1 full term dead in egg.

Since going with the no substrate method, I have had only one egg die (several clutches of both ball and carpet eggs over the past couple of years). I check in on the eggs after one week, after three weeks, then after each following week, and that check is extremely brief...just to take a peak and quickly change the air. Of course, as the eggs are about to hatch I check them daily.

I can't say enough about the no-sub method. It would seem to be virtually fool-proof, with none of the problems associated with substrate moisture levels...Many others can back me up on this. Good Luck!
Joe Pociask Pythons

np

Here is a pic of an IJ carpet clutch hatching this year.

The egg box is a rubbermade type shoebox, with a layer of soaking wet perlite in the bottom. Some folks just put in water, but I like to use the perlite...I believe it adds a temp buffer, as well as helps to keep the water from getting funky.

Anyway, the eggs sit on top of a plastic grate. Although I used a platic grate I had laying around, the best stuff to use can be found in the lighting section of your home improvement store (its used in industrial flourescent lighting). The eggs go in on top of the grate (they do NOT touch the wet perlite), the top goes on the shoebox, and then the waiting begins.

The shoebox has one small hole on one side through which the themostat probe and thermometer probe go, and a couple of small holes near the top of the ther side. The lid snaps snug, but is by no means air tight.

This set-up works great. It keeps near 100% humidity, but the eggs are completely dry and not in contact with any moisture whatsoever.

I've got a clutch of ball eggs going that will be exactly 5 weeks tomorrow, and they look like they were laid yesterday. No premature dimpling, not dicoloration, no water marks, and most importantly, all 100% alive. Good luck!

thanks I will give that a try for sure next year when my 100% het albino eggs come.

guestion do you think I should switch to that method now to maybe save what eggs I can or do I leave them in my current set-up?

Well, I'm no expert by any means, but I'd probably leave them alone....kinda goes back to my policy of "leave them alone as much as possible". If you really feel like you're doomed to lose them all, I guess it couldn't hurt. You'll want to get the new egg box up to the propper temp first. As others have said, a good picture might help us figure out whats going wrong with your current set-up. Then again, it might not.....

Where do you put the rubbermaid and how is it heated? have heard great things about the no sub method and hope to have eggs next year. That looks like an easy way of operating, but how is the temp regulated? Thanks

I use a homemade cooler style incubator. Heat tape in the bottom of a large igloo cooler, wired with a proportional thermostat (big apple).

for the info. looks like you've had some nice clutches this year. Good luck in the future.

np

and the eggs immediately began to collapse. I was using heat from above and I think that may have been my problem.
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Jay A. Martin

Hey Jay. How large was you egg box and how well ventilated was is? What type of incubator do you use? I use a homemade Cooler style incubator, and my eggs usually stay plump well into the 6th or 7th week. I think the key is to have a smallish egg box within the incubator, and to have the ventilation to the egg box greatly reduced. If you can keep humidity near 100%, there is no way the eggs could dimple.

I use a Hovabator. I did not put the eggs in a box, just in the Hovabator on the grate with water at the bottom. So the whole bottom had water.
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Jay A. Martin

I was told that the hovabator doesn't hold heat or humidity at all, that might be what went wrong with yours. A container inside the hovabator would be better, but like I am one to talk since I don't have this figured out either

all I wanted was to see some little baby ball pythons hatch out ahhh......well maybe next year if all my eggs go bad this year.

Definitely need an eggbox if you are going no-sub...its a must to keep up the humidity. You have to be able to "lock in" the moisture.

With substrate, they work perfectly fine for me.
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Jay A. Martin

Check your temps. again and check the humidity. make sure the eggs aren't setting in wet vermiculite. Good luck with the rest.