Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How bad do your eggs look while incubating? Those of you who have pristine looking eggs at hatching time, how do you do it? Mine don't look to bad, but they aren't that pretty egg color any more either.

most of mine are pearly white and plump. i am incubating few clutches that the eggs got dirty from the sphagnum i had in the nest boxes but the white eggs usually stay white for me. if you are getting mold or if they are starting to window real bad, it means they are too wet.

The tubs I have my eggs in have condensation forming on the sides and the top. I've tried to leave the lid off to let them dry some, but they quickly start to cave in... then I put the lid back on, and the condensation starts again. I'm not really getting bad mold or bad windowing, but a little of each. I put a bit more perlite in the tubs today straight from the bag to see if that would balance out the humidity. When I first set things up I moistened the perlite, it wasn't wet, just damp. I tried to squeeze moisture out, but not a drop. The temps are at about 80-82. There's two small holes in each end for air circulation as well as two small holes in the top. Should I do anything different? The eggs still look pretty good, just not pristine like I want them to...Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I do perlite a little differently. I only mist it until it is moist. It clumps like vermic but I don't add water like I do with vermic. For most clutches I use a vermic perlite mix....about 50/50. I have condensation on my tubs but no mold. I had one hognose egg this season start to mold and I put bone dry vermic on it and it helped stop it. I only have one or two tubs with holes in them but I check the eggs every other day.

Maybe try putting the eggs on egg crate to help dry them a little. Without seeing what is going on though, it is really just a guess.

I think I'm on the right track. I put dry perlite in the two tubs that are too wet, they seem better already, I'll check on them again tomorrow. My newest clutch has the slightest bit of condensation, but the eggs have a few dimples from when they were left exposed to the air while she was laying them. I'm trying to give them a chance to plump back up without adding any more wet. If there's condensation they should be humid enough shouldn't they?

I go by the eggs. Give them sometime and if they don't plump up then worry about it. They may just need a day to plump back up.

So, if they don't plump back up, then what? They have PLENTY of humidity. Could they be infertile? They all have veins.

I rechecked the eggs tonight... they have eggcellent vascular development. Maybe I just have ugly eggs... lol

if they don't plump back up, they don't plump back up! Just keep an eye on them. You can always re-wet some substrate and put it on top of the eggs. Make sure it isn't too wet though.

I'll try that... thanks for the help. My other two clutches look good!!