One Mouldy Egg In Middle Of Clump...

[MoreliaMatt]

Ok all.... Update time!

Ive been monitoring the eggs daily, and it was only getting worse!

There was the original bad egg that was totally green, another well on its way and 1 more with only a very small amount of mould on it....

It was spreading and at a rapid rate so i decided to take the many advice on here and operate on the clump!

First up i cut away the worst egg, the original bad egg! Inside was just a yellow mush! Not gonna happen right from the start by the looks of it!
Second i tried to remove the next worse egg in the hopes to clean it off and put it in a seperate tub for incubating to see what happened.... but the shell was very soft and tore open whilst trying to remove it...
Inside was what seemed to be the very early stages of a snake, but certainly nothing that really resembled a neonate.... So 2 eggs gone, nothing lost as they werent growing anyway....

The sad part of the story was in removing the second egg i had to sacrafice the egg next to it, which was a good one, it was actually a slip of the knife on my part and i feel so bad for it! Inside was a fully formed neonate that was just starting to get the pigment in the skin.... a damn shame, but in removing the 2 bad eggs and sacrificing 1 good one, hopefully the rest of the clutch pulls through without a drama!!

Next season i will be watching my females like a hawk! Ready to take the eggs off her seperately! Not in a clump like i had to this season as i got to them too late!

I feel so bad for the little fella that didnt make it!! Its quite upsetting!

 

[Mudimans]

Sounds like you've done the right thing! Must be awful to lose a good one, but like you've said-the sacrifice of that little guy might just save the rest of your clutch! Hope you have no more problems and get lots of healthy baby's. I'm with you on getting to those eggs before they can't be separated though-would save a lot of stress!

 

[Albs]

you can easily repair damaged eggs with parafin wax. There have even been cases of snakes fully developing within an open egg. As for next year trying to get the eggs as she lays them. DON'T Clutches are easily seperated once the animal has finished laying. Taking eggs from your animal while laying can cause egg binding if you stress the animal out to much before she has finished. I'd be fixing that egg up quick smart if you still have it.

 

[missllama]

its not ur fault tho mat just think of all the eggs u have probably saved from removing the bad ones
i hope it all turns out well

 

[MoreliaMatt]

you can easily repair damaged eggs with parafin wax. There have even been cases of snakes fully developing within an open egg. As for next year trying to get the eggs as she lays them. DON'T Clutches are easily seperated once the animal has finished laying. Taking eggs from your animal while laying can cause egg binding if you stress the animal out to much before she has finished. I'd be fixing that egg up quick smart if you still have it.

I know that about taking them as shes laying, i meant take them as a whole onces shes finished, but not several hours later like this season when they are all well and truly stuck together!

As for the sacrificed one, the snake itself copped a small incision, so putting him out of his misery was my only option.....

 

[Surfcop24]

Yeah Matt....

I actually left most of the shell intact with my clutch..... As I removed the contents pretty early.... It had not really growin into a fungal mould... Was only the contents going off.... It really had no chance to spread.....

Just an idea for any future clutches.....

 

[MoreliaMatt]

Yeah, point taken! Get onto it early!

This had gone quite bad, lots of spores, the works... was really quite nasty looking, should have got some photos.... but i was too carried away with getting it all done quick so the eggs werent out of the incubator any longer than they had to be!

 

[Brent]

removal of bad egg requires skills

matt
As my pics showed - my method that I use , I still believe that the removal of a bad egg is the way to go and you needed to act fast -it takes skills and a steady hand mate, with the scaple, tweezers, syringe and a scoop as I stated , next time i think you need to remove the egg as soon as it is mouldy/greed colour.

 

[Kurto]

I know theres a fair few stickies in the help section, but I reckon this thread would have to be worthy??

 

[hawkesbury reptiles]

Well done Matt, hope all turns out well for you....
Great thread....some really good info as this is a problem that often happens and you don't know why.

I lost my whole clutch of murrays this year from mould....I have never had a problem before, the odd bad egg in the past but I lost the clutch within the last week of incubation this year, all fully formed snakes. One egg even pipped. I had some eggs in a clump and some separate and all dropped off one by one.

To remove a bad egg I just use my finger nail and slide it between the eggs, carefully and ver y slowly, and they separate quite readily. They are stronger than they seem.

Incubation in a clump shouldn't be a problem, I know people who never separate them and have no probs. I'm guessing my problem was the mix was to wet, this was the first year I used perlite and was a bit casual about how much water I added as it holds less water than vermiculite. Beardie eggs don't mind the humidity but python eggs need to be drier.

I have another carpet clutch about to hatch, all looking well so far, I changed the mix and made it drier and sat the eggs on top rather than down in it...fingers crossed.

K

 

[MoreliaMatt]

Thanks, all are looking well now!

The last one that had mould on it but wasnt too bad i cleaned off and put in a tub on its own..... its now covered in it, and doesnt look good, but its on its own so im not worrying!

The rest of the good eggs, still clumped look great now the bad ones are gone!

Should all be good im hopeing!

Cheers

Matt

 

[serpantking]

If all other methods fail, try lemmon juice. Use a cotton wool bud and wipe the "moulding" egg once every 2 or 3 days, though don't soak the egg with it. Best of luck!..

 

[Surfcop24]

Morelia Matt .... How did the remaining of you eggs go???

 

[MoreliaMatt]

mould took over most of them, there was 2 left without mould that hatched fine, and another 2 also hatched fine when i thought they were gone....

so all in all 4 hatched out of 12....

Next time i will act alot quicker as i know what to do and what can happen in a short amount of time!!!

Heres a pic of each of the 4 hatchies.... beautiful animals they turned out to be!!

 

[MatE]

Matt there awesome well done.It is a shame to lose some,but the ones you got are pretty darn nice.Live and learn hey.

Cheers Mat.

 

[seumas12345]

Hehe cuties!!! A shame about the others but better luck next year!