Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So my girl laid 19 eggs yesterday! I have 10 that are about the size of a goose egg and nine that are quite a bit smaller. The smaller ones are not brown or anything but I would like some input from the more experienced breeders as to whether or not the small ones should be kept in the incubator or are they infertile.
Thanks!
Jarred

Id incubate ALL eggs unless you are 110% sure they are infertile.

Those look like classic slugs. It happens. They are probably a little bit greasy compared to the bigger whiter ones. It never hurts to throw them in the incubator but usually those just stay kind of yellow and eventually hardern up.

Good luck with the others. If you make it past day 5-7 with the big white ones, you should be in the clear.

Tom

Most of those don't look too good, but there are a few that could possibly go. If you don't have a way to illuminate the interior, or candle them, definitely wait them out in the incubator. I can't quite read, but also curious as to your incubation temp.

Not that this is happening in your case, but it does remind me of other rare cases. Some smaller adult females have been known to lay under-size eggs that are fertile. This appears genetic in that these particular females always produce entire clutches of these smaller eggs. Typically, these smaller females lay three-quarter normal size eggs that are mostly viable. In one extreme example back in the late 1980's, I had a 10 foot, 8 year old female that was given to me as a rescue. She was in excellent health and weight and I bred her the next year. She produced an incredible 42 eggs that were all nice and white and exactly the same size, at about two-thirds normal size. I immediately assumed they were all infertile and extracted one from her coils and opened it. To my surprise it contained a viable embryo. I let her maternally incubate the rest of the clutch and all hatched except two infertile ones. While this was definitely a very unusual case, in goes to show the extreme possibilities inherent with these animals. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Kelly

Thanks for the information. I candled them last night and 8 of the 10 normal sized eggs are good and 3 out of the 9 smaller ones appear to be good. I am incubating at 89.5-90. Should I dispose of the others now? None of those showed any veins or anything, and lite up like light bulbs.
Also, one of my bad ones is stuck to one of my viable larger eggs, so how should that be addressed?

I wouldn't dispose of any unless you are 100% certain they are infertile. As far as the connected ones, they will be easier to separate when the infertile one begins to decay. Don't force it however, and if necessary, they can be left together. A decaying egg will only very rarely cause any problems when touching a viable one. I have personally never seen a decomposing egg kill a healthy adjoining egg during incubation.

Kelly