Dealing with mould on eggs

[Bushman]

Can an experienced person please advise on how to deal with mould on incubating reptile eggs? (more specifically, Morelia sp.)

I'd greatly appreciate hearing from anyone that has successfully dealt with mould on incubating eggs. The only authoritative advice that I can find in any reference is Greg Maxwell's in his book, where he writes that for "blue-green dusty-looking mold...gently wipe the area clean with some diluted Chlorhexidine."
Does anyone know what concentration of Chlorhexidine is safe to use for such a purpose?

Any other successful treatment options would be good to hear about. Please only reply if you have experience in dealing successfully with this issue.

 

[Ozzie Python]

i had a few last year get mould on them, only advice i can offer is do not to smear it. i used a damp paper towell and wiped it off an egg and it spread fast and over a much larger area.

another egg i used a damp cotton bud (ear cleaner) and just lightly dabbed it off and it did eventually come back but did not spread further across the egg.

i was recommended by some to use tinea powder, but did not try it, i may this year if i get mould.

 

[Bushman]

Thanks Ozzie Python. I'll be sure not to spread it around in the process of treating the small patches that are developing.

I'd really like to get onto it tonight, as by all accounts the sooner the better, so if anyone else can add any more insights it'd be much appreciated.

 

[Elapidae1]

I can't give you advice on dealing with the mould on eggs. I do know that the use of anything that is just dampened with water is likely to exasperate the problem, I'm wondering if a saline or vinegar solution would work without the eggs being damaged.

 

[CarpetPythons.com.au]

We treated some with a low concentration of F10 sprayed onto cotton buds. I would not touch the eggs as this would spread the fungus. I have also found that lowering the relative humidity also helps. You can achieve this by making holes in the container. I think you might be incubating your eggs in an environment that is too wet. Some of our incubation tubs have been sitting at 30 degrees celcius with the relative humidity at 65%. There have been no dimpling and the eggs have never looked this healthy. We incubated at almost 100% relative humidity last year and had issues with fungus. Drier this year and no dramas.

 

[wokka]

I have used tinea powder sucessfully. Just puff it onto the egg, straight out of the bottle from the chemist.

 

[cement]

I used F10 sprayed onto paper towel and dabbed.

 

[Glimmerman]

If you are going to use the F10 spray - pls make sure you dilute it. I made the mistake of spraying a light faint mist of 250:1 mixture 2 seasons ago and it put spots on the eggs. Luckily it didnt cause the neonates any damage.

As with Wokka - I have used tinea powder very successfully since then.

I find I usually get this mould by having the mixture to damp. I wipe away all the excess water every day until there is just a light fogging on the tub sides and lid - then a light tinea powder dusting - and now probs after that.

Are you using perlite by any chance? most fungus occurs for me when I sit the eggs on perlite

Good luck with it all champ.

 

[Bushman]

Thanks very much for your helpful replies everyone. It's much appreciated. I'm sorry for not thanking you all sooner but I've been sick as a dog lately (or should that be as sick as my mouldy egg!)
I went with an F10 solution of 1:500 because it's anti-fungal, non-toxic, biodegradable and I happened to have some handy. I very carefully wiped the mould off with cotton buds soaked in it, so as not to spread the mould or disperse the dust (spores).
However the mould has since regrown a bit, so I'll try the tinea powder now as back-up treatment.
Wokka and Glimmerman, can you please tell me the brands and/or active ingredients that were in the products that you used successfully were?

I've taken on board the suggestion that the conditions may be too moist, so I'm opening up the chamber more frequently and gently fanning to help dry things out a bit more lately. Hopefully this will help. There's very little condensation at all inside the chamber and no drips at all can possibly fall on the eggs (even if they did form) due to the domed lid. There's gaps in the hole that I drilled in the lid to insert the probes.

Glimmerman, no I'm not using perlite. Vermiculite 60:40 water by weight. Next time I'll try a 70:30 mix.
Thanks again for the experienced advice that I've received by you all.

 

[Echiopsis]

I gave the tinea powder a go yesterday on a clutch of wheat belt eggs with a slug attatched. Fingers crossed.

 

[aspidito]

Listerene mouth wash dilluted in water brushed on to the egg very lightly works a treat, i have used this method on Aspidites eggs that are more prone to mould very successfully. The albino clutch that has just hatched had 1 egg that the mother pushed aside & was not attached to the rest of the clutch, this egg for some reason developed some mould, I treated this as described & mould never returned. I use a diluted Listerene solution when relaxing papered insects for setting & never have any mould problems.
Cheers, Paul

 

[Bushman]

Thanks for that Paul. What was the dilution ratio of Listerine to water that you used on the eggs?
Did that egg that the mother pushed aside end up hatching?

 

[beeman]

We used to have problems with mould using air tight tubs as the humidity
levels were sitting at 98%+.
We changed our thinking on incubating this way and went to fully ventilated
incubation (both tubs and incubator) and have never had a problem with mould since.

 

[snakelady-viper]

I have used listerine on a cotton tip this seemed to work well. I also might try the tinea powder

 

[Bushman]

Thanks for the helpful advice. I'm losing the battle with the now isolated egg. Can someone please let me know what tinea powder product or active ingredients they had success with?

 

[Ozzie Python]

bushman, have you candled the egg to make sure it is still alive? you should atleast be able to see some veins in the egg.

 

[Kyro]

Bushman I've used Tinaderm powder on beardie eggs & it worked well so I'd imagine it would work on morelia eggs too

 

[hoppyone]

I was also told to use tinia powder or corn flour

 

[Bushman]

Thanks guys. There's a plethora of tinea powders at the chemist, so thanks for the brand name Kyro.

Ozzie Python, that's good advice. I held a small torch up to the egg in darkened conditons and there was no obvious veins or pink colour. It's not a proper candling torch though, so I wanted to try and save the egg in case it was weak but still had a chance.

 

[Ozzie Python]

i use a small led light, even in full light i can see the veins- in antaresia eggs which are obviously smaller so probably easier to candle.

if the egg is dead you will soon know when it smells, sounds like you may be trying to fight an already lost battle...