Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I had 1 of my 7 MBK egges dimple and relese a yellow colored liquid and now it stinks. Do i attempt to remove it? and how do i know if my other eggs are good. The incubator is at 82 degrees and the humidity fluctuates between 75 and 85 percent. There also is some winged bugs on the bad egg , are they ok? If you guys see something i'm doing wrong or have any advice please let me know. Thanks Paul

Get rid of the bad egg immediately. Make sure there are no other flies in the incubator, they could start eating the good eggs. Bad eggs will turn yellow and start smelling after a couple days, the good eggs will look, well, good.

Mike
Michael's Place

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,,,quote,,,Make sure there are no other flies in the incubator, they could start eating the good eggs.end quote,,,
well dont believe everything ya read and only half what ya see!badeggs happen ,sux, but they do and there is NOTHING you can do about it,on the other hand goodeggs are GOODso,,,
sounds like your temps and setup are ok dont go much higher than 82 79/80 is optimal for temps if you can remove the badegg without disturbing the others go ahead if not DONT WORRY!the others should be fine,ive had eggs go bad in the middle of a clutch mass w/surrounding eggs being just fine carrion flies and their offspring(lilmaggots) will NOT EAT your good eggs!dealing w/them is a pain but goodeggs are goodeggs and badeggs are badeggs IMHO,,,,,,,,,good luck!
,,,,,,,thomas

The bad egg is on top , how would i go about removeing it , its kind of stuck to the others. If 82 is max i'm going to turn the temp down just a tad to play it safe. What happens if it goes over for a short period of time. Thanks Paul

if it is stuck to the egg mass just leave it trying to remove it could damage the other eggs. and 82 is ok i just prefer 79/80 and any higher than 85 will result in premature hatching as well as spinal deformities(kinks).
sometimes also when an egg goes bad ,, mold becomes an issue niether mold or flies will kill good eggs. now messing w/them (moving around,picking,pulling,drastic temp./humidity changes) will kill them. keep your temps&humidity in the 80range and the best advise i can give is leav'um be! remeber its the WAITING thats the hardest part but the rewards are worth it hang in there,,,,,,,thomas

ok i'll let them be , i'm charging my piece of junk digital camera so i can take a pick and hopefully post on here and hopefully you can let me know if there good eggs. Thanks Paul

The black stuff on the eggs is from the peat moss , i didn't want to disturb them too much so i let it be.

those eggs look fine to me the dimpleing could be a humidity issue could try a damp paper towel draped on them for a few hours(never directly mist)and see if they plump backup i also would gently cover the mass w/whatever medium your using(perlite,vermiculite,etc,)in your incubator as this will help maintain a more even humidity around the eggs but IMHO they all look good,,,,,,,,thomas

ok will do , thanks for all the help. I've never been able to hatch an egg so i'm super cautious of what i do. thanks Again Paul

I have had the lid off cause i put water in the hovabato. I have a small hole on each side of the lid should i put the lid on the container. Thanks Paul

im not familiar w/incubators as ive never had one but yes i would keep the lid ON as it will keep the humidity in,humidity flucuations are not good as w/temps you want to keep them as stable as possible,,,,,,,,,,thomas

Just for discussion sake. There people who think temp fluctuations are good to a point. I have also never used a incubator and just kept my eggs at room (78-84) temps. I lived in Florida and believe it or not 84 can be a nice temp if you have been outside all day.

Also your eggs don't look bad but they don't look good. Just something weird about them. I cant' place what, but it might be the photo. Good luck and I wish you all the best.

Sorry about the spelling.

Thanks Jason

It might be the camera its a piece of junk. I put more pearlite around the eggs and put the lid on it. The incubation time is 40 to 60 days depending on the temp right. They were at 82 but i turned them down to 80. Also does anyone have a pic of badd eggs they can post so i can see what they look like. Thanks Paul

Just mist the inside of the lid every other day or so and that should be enough. I agree with Thomas about the bad egg thing and the flies.

>>I have had the lid off cause i put water in the hovabato. I have a small hole on each side of the lid should i put the lid on the container. Thanks Paul
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Rick Staub
R&R Reptiles

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What type of kings are those? are they a type of Cross?

Very attractive/unusal pattern

~ZF

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The bad egg is on the left of the hatchling right. Thanks Paul

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Do you have any pics of good and bad eggs? I would like to see the difference , I'm new at egg laying and incubating them. Thanks Paul

There is no need to get rid of the bad eggs...The good ones will hatch just fine no matter what other critters are around it from the bad egg decomposing.....Oh yeah...It may smell though...LOL
John Lassiter

The pic you showed looks like they are drying out. You can use damp paper towels but something easier with no maintenance is a piece of wax paper with a slit in it to cover the eggs. With damp substrate this will maintain the humidity around the eggs. Also don't worry about bad eggs next to good ones, misting directly on the eggs etc. Good eggs should be fine. You need to start candling all your eggs though. You can have perfect white looking eggs that were never fertilized and when they eventually go bad you will wonder what you did wrong but they were never fertile to start with. Candling lets you know that you started with a fertile egg. I'll email you some other stuff.

How do you candle eggs? I put a lid on the container and put in some more damp pearlite. My e-mail is boids1@netscape.com not sure what it is on here for i have changed internet companies a few times this year. Thanks Paul

Take a penlight and in the dark hold the light against the egg. It should show a network of veins.

ok i'll have to give that a shot. Is it ok to handle the cluster , cause there all stuck togeather. Thanks Paul

no need to handle the clutch mass at all for candleing take a penlight or small flashlight in a dark room you will see a network of viens by simply placing the light gently against eggs within reach you will be able to see them and IMHO opinion moving them should be avoided,,,,,,,,,,,,,,thomas

Yes, you can pick up the clutch and candle them. It won't hurt a thing. Eggs aren't that fragile. Don't attempt to seperate them though since you could rip apart an egg.

Now as the youngins in the egg start to develope will you be able to see them too. Will the blood vessels always be there when you candle them. Thanks Paul

No. The egg yolk with vessels surrounds the embryo. I've personnaly never seen anything but veins. Now that you have seen veins leave them alone. Don't keep checking for veins, embryo etc. Might not do any harm but why chance it. Be sure to use the piece of wax paper if the eggs get too dehydrated.

I really aprreciate everyones help on this. You guys and gals have been great. You guys are responsible for takeing the egg hatching fear away from you. I never though i would get this much support and goes to show those in the kingsnake forum are awsome and excellent people. Thanks Paul