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WTF am I doing wrong, molding eggs?

SirenSanJose

SirenSanJose

aka: dheideman
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My season is so shot this year, already. I lost 2 gravid females to a heater malfunction, and lost the one clutch I had on the ground due to the same. The clutch in the incubator just cooked when the room overheated.

I'd lost 1 egg of that clutch before the overheating, but it was not veined to start with and I don't think it was fertile. The one questionable egg collapsed and molded a nasty green within a couple days of being laid. The others looked fine one day, but then after the severe overheating, they were all collapsed, moldy, and smelly.

I tossed the lot, prepared a brand new tupperware with brand new vermiculite, and had a new clutch drop on Thursday. Two of the eggs look just fine, but two already look questionable -- they're dented (even though the moisture is fine), and have tiny yellow and green mold spots on the outside, as well as a couple places going translucent.

I'm doing the exact same dang thing as I did last year, the same thing I've done with my corn eggs, but my season is just failing this year. What's going on? Is it possible the eggs were too damanged inside the mother with the overheating and had already died before being laid? (There was about a week between the overheating and her dropping the clutch.)

Is there anything I can do to repair the damage, or keep it from happening to the rest of this clutch and the remaining clutch of my season?
 
That works if the babies inside are still alive...if they are not, they will discolor.
After that kind of temp spike - yes, it is possible that the babies were too compromised to survive.
 
hhmoore said:
That works if the babies inside are still alive...if they are not, they will discolor.
After that kind of temp spike - yes, it is possible that the babies were too compromised to survive.
Click to expand...

That actually makes me feel a little better, somehow, that it's like as not this is still fallout from the catastrophe, and not something I'm just completely screwing up after the fact and killing off perfectly good eggs.
 
Had something similar occur during my move last year with slightly overheating our females. A lot of my females didn't go. We think that any female that was just in the developing folicals stage ended up re-absorbing and taking the year off. The females that did lay over the next month and 1/2 of moving appeared to be in good condition.
 
SirenSanJose said:
That actually makes me feel a little better, somehow, that it's like as not this is still fallout from the catastrophe, and not something I'm just completely screwing up after the fact and killing off perfectly good eggs.
Click to expand...

I'm assuming that you double (triple) checked your incubator - that temps are both appropriate and stable. Also that you've checked the moisture content of the incubation media. Condensate dripping on eggs can increase the likelihood of mold.
Have you candled this group?
 
Wow Diana, sorry to hear about your misfortune this season! A couple of years ago, I cooked several (FIVE) clutches of eggs in my incubator when I accidentally knocked the thermostat's probe out of it for nearly 48 hours. Made me sick (especially since it was all my fault). Good luck with your remaining eggs, and any more that you might have on the way!
 
hhmoore said:
I'm assuming that you double (triple) checked your incubator - that temps are both appropriate and stable. Also that you've checked the moisture content of the incubation media. Condensate dripping on eggs can increase the likelihood of mold.
Have you candled this group?
Click to expand...

Yep. Triple checked every-freaking-thing. Incubator temp-guns at 89, reliably, any point in the day. I couldn't give you a moisture percentage on the Vermiculite, but it's at the same "clumps when squeezes, but doesn't release any drips" point I've always used and there's no condensation on the tupperware lid.

I candled the clutch when they were laid, they all had weaker than normal veining; the two that molded and collapsed, the veins now look very dark, almost black, the two that are still holding their shape look properly veined now, and it's increasing.

My last clutch of the season just hit the ground today, so I hope hope hope they turn out good. They're much like the last clutch, slightly weak veins but look fertile so far.
 
Damn, the final damage cost me my ENTIRE season (unless a couple of girls at borderline weights bulk up for late breedings this year.)

Even after cleaning out the incubator, switching to brand new vermiculite with distilled water, etc, the three girls that survived the heater issue all gave me the same thing-- clutches that were laid veined and looked good are fine for 4-7 days, then start to mold and collapse. All the clutches were laid within 2 weeks of the heat spike, so I guess the eggs were just too far along and took too much damage to survive. What an awful year.
 
Im sorry. Im sure things will go better next season. :( I lost several snakes due to a temperature spike in October. We had moved into a new house and miscalculated just how fine our oil heater would be without a thermostat. That will not happen again, thats for sure! I very much hope that one of your other girls get big enough for you.
 
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