Moldy eggs

[herptrader]

Some of you may remember a while back Trader and I had female Coastal desparate to get a tail over. Well Sdaj had a suave looking male who was just itching to exercise his hemipenes and that he did. Our coastal (Zippy) was happy and gravid. I posted pics of the conception and the pre lay slough but what of the laying you may ask?

Well there was a laying, 24 eggs, 6 of which were slugs. So we have 18 good (?) eggs. Recently two of them got a touch of the mold. I consulted with the experts (mainly Brian at the Herp Shop) and he indicated that wiping off the mold would not be a bad thing. He was not saying that the eggs would survive but that cleaning them up was unlikely to do any harm.

So I did. Attached are before and after pictures.

The eggs smell just fine... like alpine air!

[africancichlidau]

I voted for the second option cos I reckon they'll have a far better chance without the mould. Also I don't believe anyone can EVER say they will definately survive.

[herptrader]

My hunch is that the smell is the best guide and they smell fine.

I guess I will be posting an update in a couple of days.

Sdaj asked me what colour the mold was... I guess I would describe it as green ;-)

[africancichlidau]

Daavid, perhaps you should alter that link in your signature or has BB started another business?

Yes I think smell is probably the best indicator too.
Pity the mould only grew on Sdaggeeeees egs eh? I bet he's disapointed?

[Already_Gone]

If eggies die in the middle of incubation for whatever reason, will they go mouldy and smelly or just not hatch???

On the egg topic, i candled my beardie eggs tonight and you can see heads and tails moving in the egg!!! Lookin good!!

I think the eggs will b fine. they seem to b of a good colour and don't look to be very dead at all

[jungle_inc]

Hi Herptrader, I reckon that the eggs in the picture with mold and are deflated are likely on their way out, sad to say. I found that if you have a little mold usually due to bits on the eggs that arent fully calcified, just wipe it off and they usually end up hatchling the eggs, but when your eggs have mold and they start caving in in your first 2-3 weeks the egg is on its way out. How old are those eggs by the way? If unsure just stick a little torch on them, make sure its not too hot, you should see nice well defined veins in the eggs if they are fertile.

regards

mark

[trader]

I consulted with the experts (mainly Brian at the Herp Shop) and he indicated that wiping off the mold would not be a bad thing. He was not saying that the eggs would survive but that cleaning them up was unlikely to do any harm.

We are all very lucky to be able to consult with an expert like Brian from The HerpShop With the decades of experience he has, he would be the one to ask about anything to do with reptiles!!

[herptrader]

Originally Posted by jungle_inc

Hi Herptrader, I reckon that the eggs in the picture with mold and are deflated are likely on their way out, sad to say. I found that if you have a little mold usually due to bits on the eggs that arent fully calcified, just wipe it off and they usually end up hatchling the eggs, but when your eggs have mold and they start caving in in your first 2-3 weeks the egg is on its way out. How old are those eggs by the way? If unsure just stick a little torch on them, make sure its not too hot, you should see nice well defined veins in the eggs if they are fertile.

regards

mark

The eggs are just 10 days old. I will candle a couple of the eggs as suggested and see what shows. (I wonder if I can get a photo of this?)

thanks for your feedback __daavid

[swampie]

In my experience ,if the eggs start to sink like that in the early stages of incubation they are no good but some of the other eggs in the photo look ok.Smell is a good indicator but they dont always smell straight away.

Doesnt shrinking eggs also mean not enough moisture in the vermiculite?

Can anyone back this up? if it is the case that its not enough moisture, maybe the eggs are ok but in need of a drink?

[Barney]

true from all counts ut pending how far developed

[jungle_inc]

Teamsherman, eggs will cave in if you dont have high enough humidity, but you wouldnt normally have that much caving in the first 10 days, unless of course conditions were extremely wrong, also the other eggs tend to look much fuller than the moldy eggs meaning that conditions must be acceptable. You would be surprised at how long unfertile eggs can appear fertile from just looking at them before they cave in and start smelling.

Regards
Mark

[peterescue]

I had a similar problem last year and ended up losing all the eggs in that container to mold. Once the spores are present unless you can eradicate them they will more than likely return. I had three eggs in another container and they survived. The other I removed the moldy eggs(cleaned) to another container but they again became moldy. The remaining eggs died a week or so from hatching. going moldy almost overnight. The eggs all contained fully formed snakes but everything appeared as if they had been set in aspic.

[herptrader]

The way I understant it the egg is like the placenta to a mamil. It is a purpose built factory designed to last the incubation period of the egg.

If the egg dies close to term it may be because it has exhausted its resources particularly if the incubation period has been a long one.

If the egg dies early on it is probably because the little snake it was developing has something wrong with it (or the egg was in fact infertile).

In theory a healthy egg should be able to protect the developing snake from the rigors of the outside world such as mould.