Reptile & Amphibian Forums

One of my fence lizards left me 6 wonderful eggs last week. One of them was damaged by a cage mate 2 of them looked like they were drying out but the other 3 looked perfect. Right now the damaged one is molding. Should I remove it from the incubator? "I thought maybe I could save it" The 2 that looked dried out plumped back up and looked great a day after being put in the incubator, Now those 2 have taken a yellowish color and appear to have green and red or orange spots on them. The spots don’t appear to be mold but it looks very funny, especially since the 3 remaining eggs still look perfect. Any advice?

My research and Collection

The two eggs that plumped back up by providing moisture may still be viable. If the "spots" of mold progress, then the eggs may not make it. You can also candle these eggs with a bright light to verify fertility. The egg that has been damaged & molded is no longer alive & should be discarded. Goodluck hatching them.

Thanks for your reply. I just checked on the eggs and the one is definitely bad and will be removed. The other 2 I was worried about just seem weird. They are darker than the three good eggs and are dented a little bit. The spots don’t look like mold at all that’s what is strange to me. It almost looks like a couple of candy Easter eggs hmmm.

My research and Collection

I would keep the questionable eggs seperated from the good eggs, but I see no reason why they cannot share the same incubator at this time (unlike the obviously moldy, broken egg). From your description, I doubt that they are viable, but it's still worth a shot. I would lightly swab the coloured eggs with a dilute betadine solution. Be carefull not to turn or rotate the eggs, or to keep the eggs overly moist, the eggs should be dry when done.

Good luck!
Ian

I agree with Joeysgreen except for swabbing the two "colored" eggs with dilute Betadine solution. The iodine can soak into the eggs & possibly kill or alter development of the embryos-if they are still viable.

Goodluck--

I'll try to get you references for the betadine solution, I do remember it was from a good source. There is always a concern that it will soak through, and thus overdoing it is never good. A "dry brush" technique is almost used.
Ian

I am going to look at the eggs through the light in a few minutes but I am going to one up the normal way. My computer microscope has a fairly bright bottom light so I will look at them in that. Unfortunately the highest magnification it has is 200X but the way I see it if you are suppose to see the veins with the naked eye then I will for sure get a treat looking at them at a 200 magnification.

My research and Collection