Dehydration in python eggs.

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sarah_m

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I have bred my stimsons pythons for the first time this year and am having big problems with dehydration.
I was using the no substrate method in a tub with no ventilation and the eggs have continued to sink. I'm getting readings of 96% humidity and temps around 30.8-31.4c. All eggs appear to have healthy veins still. Everything appears to be correct but it obviously is not as I cannot get them to plump back out.

Yesterday in desperation I mixed up some vermiculite 1:1 with water and transferred the eggs to this medium in a new container. I tried placing a damp paper towel over them, which also made no difference.
At this stage I don't know if they can be saved.

Can an anyone tell me if eggs dehydrate will they plump back up or do they remain sunken and if so how long does it take for this to happen.

Thanks
 
How long since they were laid? They can sink a bit quite early on without it affecting their viability, and it can take a few days for them to rehydrate as they are largely absorbing water very slowly from the air. If you've seen a clutch maternally incubated in the bush, you'd be amazed that they even hatch at all, but they do. Be VERY careful not to get them actually WET - this will kill them stone dead almost straight away.

Jamie
 
They were laid on the 11th November. They are not wet at all, just sitting in vermiculite.

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They began to sink in the first week but have continued to dent further over the last 2 weeks.
 
Is it possible that you can post a pic? You may be worrying unnecessarily, as eggs sometimes do sink a bit after laying, and then stabilise. You're about 2 1/2 weeks into incubation, so you may find they stabilise and continue to the hatch date without loss of viability.

Jamie
 
Is it possible that you can post a pic? You may be worrying unnecessarily, as eggs sometimes do sink a bit after laying, and then stabilise. You're about 2 1/2 weeks into incubation, so you may find they stabilise and continue to the hatch date without loss of viability.

Jamie
I'm not very tech savvy, not sure how to post pics. Will get my husband to do it when he gets home.
Thanks for your help Jamie.
 


These are the eggs I'm worried about.

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How often are you airing them out?
They were left a week after laying before I opened the tub to candle them. That's when I first noticed they were a little sunken. Since then the tub has only been opened when I've done something like add damp paper over the top of them. Have been trying hard to keep humidity up by keeping the container sealed as much as possible. Yesterday I moved them to a new tub with vermiculite because they were looking so deflated.
 
looked like my albino eggs this season and they hatched. Leave them be they'll be fine....
Make sure they are sitting on the mixture and give them a week or two without opening the container
Thanks Yommy. Hopefully these will turn out ok too.
 
its the joys of a biological hobby. what will be will be. I have moved away from the zero substrate method , back to perlite. I find I get better results for me and my animals, but it comes down to the individuals preference, incubator, animals and setup....

Eggs are designed to hatch its usually us that stuffs up that formula. Best of luck mate, besides woma eggs most reptile eggs are hardy :)
 
Hey Sarah_m
Can I ask what your Humidity is at. I only ask cuz my stimmy laid eggs on the 8th November and Ive been loosing one every few days. Im down to about 3 that are still alive and 1 of those is very plump and good viens. The other 2 are similar to yours but have some discolour on them but are still showing veins. I cannot seem to get my humidity above 90%. Ive had them in a 1.5-1 water vermiculite, so 150g water to 100g verm and it was still reading the same. Temps are good ranging within 1C of 31.5. I just changed the container they were kept in and put new vermiculite and water. This time I went back to 1-1. 200g each. The reason why I did this was I had an egg starting to grow mould on it and I can not remove it cuz its stuck to the good one and another one. So I wiped it down first and then transferred to new tub and then dusted them with tiniaderm. Hope this helps :(
 
Hey Sarah_m
Can I ask what your Humidity is at. I only ask cuz my stimmy laid eggs on the 8th November and Ive been loosing one every few days. Im down to about 3 that are still alive and 1 of those is very plump and good viens. The other 2 are similar to yours but have some discolour on them but are still showing veins. I cannot seem to get my humidity above 90%. Ive had them in a 1.5-1 water vermiculite, so 150g water to 100g verm and it was still reading the same. Temps are good ranging within 1C of 31.5. I just changed the container they were kept in and put new vermiculite and water. This time I went back to 1-1. 200g each. The reason why I did this was I had an egg starting to grow mould on it and I can not remove it cuz its stuck to the good one and another one. So I wiped it down first and then transferred to new tub and then dusted them with tiniaderm. Hope this helps :(

Mould seems to indicate the humidity was too high. How decent is your hygrometer? Could it be showing a false reading?
 
Ive been using an analogic hygrometer and a digital and both are reading about the same. The analog is shwing 82% and digital is showing 89%. i have another one tht i can put in there too. The digital one i just put in today as the last one broke. It is a weatherstation from bunnings.
 
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Are you guys who are having troubles taking your incubating temps from INSIDE the egg-box? You should have your thermometer probe actually resting on the eggs to get a true picture of the conditions your eggs are experiencing. I've used the vermiculite method before switching to the no substrate method, and had no trouble with either of them. You should be getting a bit of condensation on the lid of the egg-box if conditions are right (= close to 100% humidity), and I've never used a hygrometer, ever. Snakes don't use them either!

If you have your heat source above the egg box, and no way of circulating the heat other than by convection, you may not be getting enough heat into the damp/wet substrate to get the evaporation you need to bring the humidity up enough. I usually use a small computer fan to distribute the heat evenly throughout the incubator itself.

Jamie
 
You can actually fill the dent on top of the eggs with water, they will absorb the water and re-hydrate themselves. Ive done this many times over the years with no ill-efect to the eggs.
 
You can actually fill the dent on top of the eggs with water, they will absorb the water and re-hydrate themselves. Ive done this many times over the years with no ill-efect to the eggs.

Just make sure that the entire egg isn't wet for too long or they will suffocate.

Jamie
 
For my setup i use a foam box that i have lined with heat cord and then i use a auberins pid controller that uses an ssr. I have it programmed to 32c as i have two other guage inside the egg box and they are reading 31c. The temp probe is a rtd that is very accurate. My egg box is a systema 5L container that has the probe mounted through the lid right into the centre area of eggs. I am getting a reading of 92% humidity with digital. What if i added a heat mat under the egg box so it heats the substrate up?
i have noticed my really good egg has started getting dark spots on it. Is this bad.

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Trueblue forgot to respond to you. Why do so many ppl say water on eggs is bad then. I will give your technique a go and see if that helps.
should we be aiming for 100% humidity.
should i have condensation on the lid. I dont have any and thought that it was cuz the temp in the incubator is stable to what is inside the box.
cheers for help and sorry for highjacking thread
 
A 5 litre sistema wouldn't allow for a lot of substrate. How much (grams/thickness) substrate are you using?
 
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