Should I remove an unfertilised egg stuck to clutch?

[apprenticegnome]

My black head python laid her first clutch of 7 eggs last night, 6 good and 1 in the middle is yellow (presume it is unfertilised). The eggs were moved today to the incubator but were stuck together in a clump. Is it safe to leave the yellow egg in the clutch and if not how can I safely remove it? If it cannot be removed does it spell doom for the 6 good eggs? Any help appreciated.

 

[Pythoninfinite]

My black head python laid her first clutch of 7 eggs last night, 6 good and 1 in the middle is yellow (presume it is unfertilised). The eggs were moved today to the incubator but were stuck together in a clump. Is it safe to leave the yellow egg in the clutch and if not how can I safely remove it? If it cannot be removed does it spell doom for the 6 good eggs? Any help appreciated.

It would be wise to remove it if possible - it is far easier to do this in the first few hours than it is after a day or so, but you should be able to carefully peel the dud egg away from the others in the clutch. It may seem difficult at first, but doing it carefully and not distorting the healthy eggs is the way to go.

If you're sure it's infertile, you can always drain it (without getting the contents on the other eggs) and cut the remaining shell away with small scissors, leaving the attached areas of shell in place, then clean and dry the area.

Jamie

 

[salebrosus]

Slugs will rot and go mouldy. You can use a syringe to suck out the contents and use nail scissors to remove most of the shell. I had to do this recently.

 

[apprenticegnome]

Thanks for advice. I managed to remove slug successfully and now have to wait and see how many hatch. Just checking, a yellow sunken egg is definitely a slug?