Reptile & Amphibian Forums

HELP!! I have 2 corn snakes that have mated again and now I have 19 eggs. I have been selling hatchlings for 5 or 6 years and for the past 2 batches of eggs ive had no hatchings because of mold. I incubate them by putting them in a Tupperware container and floating them on water in an ice cream bucket with holes drilled in the side for ventilation. for the past 2 batches and now this one ive had terrible mold and I don’t know what I am doing wrong and its really frustrating because I love doing this. There weren’t any problems with the first couple set of eggs because I had good turnouts. Is their anything I can do to salvage this batch and help me do it proper in the future? Please help and thanks for your time.

Alex Martin

"I incubate them by putting them in a Tupperware container and floating them on water in an ice cream bucket with holes drilled in the side for ventilation."?????????????

I think you might be too late and your eggs are probably all dead already because:

First of all: I have never heard of this weird method. Second of all: NO ventilation is needed until about 2 months later - just before the eggs hatch. Thirdly: you can't allow the eggs to just roll around or even give them a chance to do so. This will cause them internal damage and kill the embryos.

Put them in vermiculite in a sealed shoe box type of container, they only cost a buck. Mix the vermiculite by volume 2 parts to 1 part water, example: 4 cups of vermiculite is mixed with 2 cups of water. level out the mixed vermiculite and stick the eggs in it, burying them only half way! This has worked for me for over 15 years now. Hope this helps and sorry for your bad experience. . .

Zee

Zee

sorry thats what the person told me to do who gave me my snake. He also breeds them but thanks ALOT for the advice where can i get the thing?

WAl-mart, K-mart, Home Improvement stores, garden centers, nurseries. (Vermiculite is a soil lightener for baby plants mainly)
I bought mine at Wal-Mart. Good luck, hope it's not too late

Zee

What is everybodies opinions on the hovebator incubator things? or many other types of reptile incubator...? Or is it easiest just to put them in the "shoebox" and vermaculate and leave them at about room temperature...(75-83?)
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0.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1.0 Redtail "Kilo"
1.0 Ball Python "Road Hog"
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches" (Didn't name her!)

I prefer sphagnum moss and a hova bator incubator.
With sphagnum your can cover the eggs and it is easier than vermiculite because of the weird clutches that corns lay.
Just my 2 cents....
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Cory
Corns
1.0 Snow "Ghost"
1.1 Milkphase "Big Guy and Little Girl"
1.1 Anerythiristic "Gray Beard and Shadow"
0.2 Okeetee "Copper and Anna"
1.1 Bloodreds het Pewter
0.1 Crimson "Minnie"
1.0 Sunglow "Sunny"
Kings
1.0 California "Zeb"
1.0 Florida "Freak"
Milks
1.1 Pueblan
Lots of mice and rats

A 1:1 ratio of water to vermiculite by weight would be ok, but for volume I'd go with 1:9 up to 1:12.

The floating method described works fine. The eggs probably had some kind of exposure to mold spores from the cage/nestbox substrate.

These days, I prefer perlite or compressed coconut for incubation, but really they all will work.

I have cleaned mold off with a mild saltwater solution & Q-tips.

Good luck,
Max
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"I may be crazy, but ya know... I can rationalize just about anything."

Can you post a picture of the eggs? I've never seen good fertilized eggs become so moldy that they are killed. Mold attacks eggs that were never fertile to begin with or the embyo inside has died. But if you think they are still good you can use a little antifugal foot powder on them to try and kill the mold.