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Egg issues...

Pink Lady Exotics

Pink Lady Exotics

"Queen Quarantine"
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It's been 4 days since Angel layed her eggs. 4 of them look fine (although this is my first year so I'm only guessing), but 2 are looking weird. All 6 candled well and showed good veins when they were first laid. I'm wondering if #3 and #5 are rotting? They're soft and wet/slimy and starting to get clear splotches. If not, what else is wrong with them? Humidity too high? Too low? If so, why aren't the other ones looking that weird? All input would be appreciated...I don't want to lose them.

4-14-07050.jpg


4-14-07049.jpg
 
My first question would be how wet is that substrate and my second would be what is the overall humidity in the incubator?
Also, are you using a cover on the container?
 
The substrate is HatchRite and is damp enough to clump but crumbles easily. There is a lid on each container but they have two large air holes in them. The ACU-RITE says humidity is "HI" which means 100%...right? Should it be less than 100%?
 
I would personally drop it to no higher than 80% or 85%.
 
OK. I just changed out the substrate and put in some that is a bit dryer, and took the covers off the containers. I'm going to keep an eye on it. How bad do those 2 eggs look to you? Salvageable or lost?
 
Jen, They are way to wet.. Sit them on an egg crate asap. I think you lost those 2 already! Good luck with the rest.
 
JenHarrison said:
OK. I just changed out the substrate and put in some that is a bit dryer, and took the covers off the containers. I'm going to keep an eye on it. How bad do those 2 eggs look to you? Salvageable or lost?
Click to expand...

I hatched out worse... just keep an eye on the humidity, and ensure there is a dry layer between the eggs & substrate. Since you have the lid off, watch for dimpling- which should happen about a week-5 days before hatching, but prior to that indicates low humidity. Simple fix- carefully add a bit of water along the side of the container & don't get the eggs wet. Easier to add humidity than reduce so no worries!

Also be very careful moving developing eggs... acidentaily inverting can kill them, best to candle from over head and let nature take it's course. You can let even bad eggs go to hatch day & it won't hurt the good ones. Congrats on your first clutch!
-Deb
 
I keep 100% humidity in my egg containers with no issues. :shrug01: As long as you squeeze the medium and no water comes out, if it drains water when you squeeze it you should replace it.
 
Also since she just laid these 4 days ago, they might have been infertile.
 
Hatchrite is supposed to be perfect right out of the bag. You didn't add any water to it, right?
 
jglass38 said:
Hatchrite is supposed to be perfect right out of the bag. You didn't add any water to it, right?
Click to expand...

Nope, not at all. I do keep the snake room at 60% humidity though (whole house humidifier), would that affect it?

Bill, they candled OK, all 6 had veins and I could see the embryo in a few of them. Doesn't always mean they'll make it though, right?

The 2 in question are toast, they're all green today. Argh. I know sometimes eggs go bad and I've seen other breeders lose entire clutches for no reason...I'm just disappointed because this was a pairing I was really excited about, especially since it was my first clutch ever. I just hope the other 4 make it, I have to go to Michigan for 4 days now that Lex is home and I'm afraid of coming back to 6 piles of goo. :(
 
Humidity in your room shouldn't affect it much. I think they were probably just bad to begin with, the first week is usually when you see the most eggs go bad. You still have 4 good eggs. :thumbsup: My first clutch this year was 3 good eggs and 2 slugs, so you're still in good shape. ;) If you changed out your medium for dryer stuff keep an eye on them so they don't dry out too much.
 
are they green all over or just a couple spots? I had one start to go green, but still had good veins. I put thin layer of skin glue on the green parts, and it didn't spread and the egg hatched ok.

I wonder if when we handle the eggs, we possibly contaminate them with bacteria that kills the egg from the outside in?

I have also heard of people sprinking foot fungus powder on green areas with some success.

I've got an entire clutch of het albino's that are denting with 100% humidity. I have no idea why. I guess sometimes, this stuff happens.
 
They went green all over and completely caved, I took them out and put them out back for the raccoon to eat. The other 4 dented because it got too dry while we were gone in Michigan, so hopefully it didn't do too much damage. The night we got back, I added a bit of water to the substrate and it's back to 100% humidity again. Hopefully they bounce back. The remaining 4 aren't green or becoming see-though, just still dented. Argh.
 
I've got no experience with ball python eggs, but have successfully hatched out numerous other types of pythons. In my experience, with most species you can stray a fair amount from the optimal humidity...but you should be careful of significant changes during incubation. In other words, if you start out at near 100%, you don't want to drop to 80-85 after a month (or vice versa). I have also read concurring statements from a couple of sources (I believe the Barkers were one of them, but I would have to search out the article to be sure)...one of which reported successful hatchings under various (steady) conditions, ranging from around 70% to downright wet.
Fungus/molds on incubating eggs can be dilemma...do we let them go & hope for the best, or try to intervene? For me, it depends on the degree of mold, where it is, and whether it is spreading. If I choose to act, I try to wipe it down (my current choice is a paper towel dampened with Chlorhexidine), then lightly coat the area with WhiteOut or . This also works on "weak" or leaking areas.
(I do know of people that have used the various skin glues, with varying degrees of success. Since they are meant to work for 5-10 days then fall off/deteriorate, I would not use them for weak or leaky areas...but the effective life is probably fine for killing off growing spores)
 
Well, they haven't rebounded from the low humidity yet. This is what they look like as of tonight -- should I give up on them or keep them in there and hope for the best in 6-7 weeks? I found two ads for mini-fridges so we're going to go try to pick one up tomorrow and make a better incubator.

4-23-07038.jpg
 
Don't give up on them Jen. Just keep the humidity up around 100% and see what happens. :thumbsup:
 
Jen,
I am not familiar with using HatchRite (I have seen it advertised, though) as an incubation medium, so my first comments are based solely on observations from the pictures. The first two pics show the eggs 4 days after oviposition - even at that time, most of them don't look "good" (not saying they are "bad", just that they seem to be showing signs of problems). The HatchRite, even in the last photo, appears to be very wet. Running at 100% humidity, at python incubation temperatures, you will get a fair amount of condensation on the lids...this can be problematic if it a) drips on the eggs themselves or b) drips back into the incubation media, making it too wet. There are many different schools of thought regarding incubation - dealing media (or lack thereof), temps, humidity levels, container type, use of lids/covers, and how to position/prepare the eggs - and any discussion on the subject will likely get you a variety of answers from which to choose.
Back to your current situation - let's start with some of the basics (you may have covered this in another thread, but I don't habitually follow this particular forum, so please bear with me...there are no wrong answers). What type of incubator are you using? What is the heat source, and how is it controlled. Where are the boxes, in relation to the heat source? It appears that you are using fairly small unventilated boxes - and you have had the lids both on, and off. When they were on, how much condensation were you getting in the boxes? Did you attempt to dry them or leave them alone? What are you using to measure temps, where are you taking your measurements, and what is the temperature? I noticed you referenced an Acu-Rite for checking humidity - is it an actual hygrometer, or just an analog gauge with low/med (normal)/high?
Personally, I would continue to incubate the eggs but, frankly, I would not hold too much hope (sorry, but better to be pleasantly surprised...they look pretty bad for just over 2 weeks - the denting doesn't concern me as much as the degree of discoloration that has been evident from the start)
 
The HatchRite looks wet because it dried out over the 6 days we spent in Michigan and they dented, so I added moisture to it. I have 2 ventilation holes in each container lid. I get no condensation on the underside of the lid at all, it's always been dry when I've opened the incubator to check. It's a Hovabator, we haven't had the chance to build a better one. It's heated using the normal Hovabator heat coil and controlled by a Helix thermostat. Temps are always 89-90 and stable -- according to both the Helix and the digital ACU-RITE. Their probes are in the same spot, in the center of the container.
 
Hatchrite is never supposed to have water added as far as I am aware. I also wouldn't have ventilation holes in your egg container, there is no need if your substrate is right.
 
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