Causes of reptile eggs failing to hatch or going rotten

Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum

Help Support Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Snake01

Not so new Member
Joined
May 10, 2009
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
Hi mates

I would like to get your opinions on this question? What do you guys think is the common and not so common causes of eggs going rotten or fail to hatch in an incubator?

Example 1 one batch perfect hatch in the same incubator as n batch that went rotten and n batch that faild to hatch. All the same species.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9800 using Tapatalk
 
One clutch was fertilized and one wasn't? Impossible to know without further info.
 
It's not an actual scenario, it is just for explanation sake.

I have been breeding and keeping my reptile pets for 18 years. So I now fluctuation in temp and humidity as we'll as stale air can al cause problems, I just want your guys experiences and extra knowledge and opinions.


Sent from my BlackBerry 9800 using Tapatalk
 
sometimes a dam or sire can carry a weak gene, sometimes the eggs can die after going into the oviducts but then be laid white with no veins and die off 2-3weeks on. sometimes something goes wrong with humidity levels and the eggs dry out and die, sometimes too much moisture will make eggs swell up and neonates drown, sometimes internal fungus forms which kills neonates fast. they can drown in egg if no egg tooth was developed or they had developed a egg tooth however could not escape the egg due to shell being to tough or membrane being to thick. many different things can go wrong. including deformities etc.
 
I would say infertile/fertile eggs plays a big part.
Also moisture throughout incubation as well as temperature play a large role.
 
For instance : Temp and humidity is perfect but eggs seem to go moldy or die off after half of the incubation time?




Sent from my BlackBerry 9800 using Tapatalk
 
Probably not fertile. Or you could have contaminated incubator or medium. Try candling the eggs after a few days to determine if they are fertile and go from there.
 
After years of figuring out the reasons behind this I have found 2 or 3 of the most likely reasons, after correcting them my hatch rates have improved immensely.
Hopefully after a few years of trial and error you will stumble on the same results :p

I will divulge one hint, just because you mix the medium perfectly does not mean the humidity around the eggs will be governed by that 100%

- - - Updated - - -

Here are some Golden-tailed Gecko eggs, the temp around the eggs was 28-28.5 and the eggs were only 2cm above a water/perlite slush, but yet they are drying out? (I managed to save these eggs btw).


 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top