1st eggs ever! totally un-egg-spected

Tried breeding my corns for the first time this year but my male is still small (he's picky and took forever to switch to f/t, prior owner only fed live). I tried them together for just a little under 24 hrs at the beginning of April. Male showed no interest at all. He shed about a month later so I tried them again, this time only 4 hrs together, he showed no interest. After the 1st introduction my female went off feed, she normally feeds great on mice or rats.

She shed yesterday and this morning I go to pull out the shed skin and notice she's super skinny. What the heck!?! So I open her hide box and I gots eggs!! Oh my! I was not expecting this at all. I have no idea if they are 'good', I have ZERO experience with eggs. I didn't even get an incubator this year because I figured I wasn't going to get anything.

SO I have no idea what to do. The clutch is stuck together, I pulled them up and put damp moss underneath and then returned it to her tank. They're all very dented, I assume because no humidity. They were also quite heavy. So maybe they are actually fertile?


What do you think? What else can I do at this point besides just cross my fingers?

Here's mom checking them out again:


I am shocked!

How egg-citing!
-April

They all looked fertile from the pic as far as Duds right from the get go!
Keep them Warm and moist but not to moist and I bet you still might get a couple to Undent!

OH Oh ya I forgot as they, "the Eggs" some are gonna mold up for sure get them out of their as quickly as time permits I am gonna guess at least 4 will still hatch if all is done right good luck!

What an egg-squisite surprise April! I hope none of them egg-spire on you

Seriously though, best of luck! The eggs look in good shape egg-cept (doh - I did it again) for the denting, they may yet plump back up with the increased humidity.

lol Thanks guys! I am still so surprised she produced fertile eggs since the male was barely in there and didn't even seem interested. I'll keep the humidity up and probably just leave them where she dropped them and see what happens... either way, I'm still overjoyed and if nothing else, I'll be prepared for next season since I know they produce now!

Don't have anything to add egg-cept that's awesome!

They all look fertile, just a little dried up....

I have seen worse that went on to hatch. Just keep them around 80 degrees (+/- 5 degrees) with high humidity. Remember, a wet substrate is not the same as high humidity. A glad ware container with moist (not wet) moss or perlite (not Miracle Grow) is my favorite to incubate eggs. I set 'em up and leave them alone except once a week I'll open the container to let some fresh air in.

Being that they are kinda dry you can also place a damp (not soaking wet) paper towel over them to help fill them in a little. Don't over due it though. Put in the right environment they will slowly fill back out and that would be the goal. Don't over due the moisture trying to get them to fill in too quick.

just an update - female had pulled the top of the hide to the side and it crushed one of the eggs which has now gone bad, but I cannot pull it off since the entire clutch is stuck together (the one that went bad is on the top left side of the 1st pic, the one that was really badly dented, it has turned purple/greenish, I assume mold). The rest of the eggs still look good, top ones are still dented a bit but not as bad as they were. Fingers still crossed.

Good luck Girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

April... Here is how I have been incubating my corn eggs... and I have egg-celent success rate.

Put them in a 15qt sterlite container with only a couple holes on each side. I use bed-a-beast as a medium. place the eggs in the center and then pour very hot water around the permiiter (DO NO GET ANY ON THE EGGS). Put the lid on and place on a very high shelf in your herp room. Mine get incubated at around 82-83* and it takes around 65-70 days to hatch.

If you need to add humidity... .repeat with the hot water.

This way you dont have to worry bout mom messing up the eggs.