....once an egg starts molding, it'll usually continue to mold at the spot or area no matter what you do...



...to help control or limit molding, GENTLY wipe the area with a paper towel soaked in 1:10 dilution of Clorox...take a paper towel, fold it into a square about 8 layers thick, add the diluted Clorox solution so the paper towel is wetted but not soaked, and Gently wipe the area...mold spores hate Clorox...



...since the hyphae, or "roots" of the mold 'plant' are embedded within the egg shell itself, they can survive and regrow their "fruiting bodies" (the part you see), so the procedure needs to be repeated pretty much daily to prevent a "bloom" or rapid growth of the colony...



...it's not good that the mold colony is near the embryo, but sometimes, actually most times, these colonies grow adjacent to an area of poorly vascularized "yolk" and often are self-limiting...the embryo grows and develops normally...other times it can affect the embryo...



...if the egg goes bad, take comfort in knowing the bad egg very rarely affects adjacent good eggs...maternal immunity is part of the normal eggs, and as embryos grow, stem cells differentiate into cellular immune cells as well as humoral (antibody)-producing cells...that is why good eggs stay good even exposed to a bad egg...



...lastly, if the attachments to adjacent eggs are not too extensive, a bad egg sometimes can be removed from the clutch, but this is a VERY DELICATE procedure requiring the use of tools, such as sexing probes, scalpels, etc...another handy substance is egg fluid saved from prior clutches (I draw up some of this fluid with a syringe and freeze it in small vials)...this can be applied to the sites of attachment and it'll help loosen the egg...



Hope this helps!



Scott J. Michaels DVM

Serpent City

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