pics of eggs..

[Ginevive]

It isn't pretty, but i posted for your opinions. I have the incubator at the right temp now and I do not think that it is going to spike again.. I was thinking of just using it for my next clutch. It has not moved from 88.7 in three days.. and I just read about a few people who have successfully used these.
Basically, should I keep these bad looking eggs going, or toss them and keep the one that does look good (bottom left) and use the space the bads took up, for the ones that Ginger will lay? I don't want to kick a dead horse by keeping these eggs if they are definately dead.. your thoughts?
I know that people might say, why use the inc. that spiked a temp, but I have heard of FWatt spiking.. so I guess now I feel safer about it now that it has not fluctuated in a few days.



I opened it a split second to get a good shot of the better egg.

[Nate]

So sorry to hear bout those eggs

Wish i could offer some advice...

[muddoc]

Jen,
Just my opinion if it makes you feel any better. Those eggs look like they were going bad before your incubator mishap. It looks as if they have been deteriorating for at least a week.

[Ginevive]

Thanks Tim; your opinion means alot to me. Maybe there was just something wrong from the get-go.. but that lone egg; we'll see about him. Do you think that it'd be as bad as the others if there were something wrong with it also? Thanks for your thoughts..
I definately appreciate your thoughts, Nate.
I am not letting this crap get me down.. all ya can do is move on. Breeders of animals always have ups and downs; my friend breeds horses and lost her whole foal crop (about 6 foals or more) one year.. just gotta keep surviving and going on! I feel bad about typiong that I wanted to scrap my whole collection; I love these snakes and even if none of them ever breed for me, that will not change.

[Ginevive]

So they are pretty much done; I should just scrap them?

[elevatethis]

You might want to check your vermic...it looks really wet, especially the way its actually sticking to all sides of the bad eggs in the second pic...but its really hard to tell by the pic...

I know that people might say, why use the inc. that spiked a temp, but I have heard of FWatt spiking.. so I guess now I feel safer about it now that it has not fluctuated in a few days.

Flexwatt can't "spike" if a good thermostat is controlling it.

Were you using the wafer thermostat that comes with the hovabator? I'm pretty sure you've been around long enough to have read threads about how unreliable they are, I was surprised when I saw that you planned on using one...

Sorry about the mishap...if I were you...I wouldn't trust that incubator again.

[frankykeno]

Jen it's just a thought here but if there is a concern about the hatching substrate why don't you give Casey Hulse a call and discuss that HatchRite stuff with him. It's supposed to be amazing, especially for us newbie breeders....apparently quite foolproof.

[jglass38]

I think it would be a mistake to use that incubator again. Those things are crap. As far as the vermiculite, I agree that it looks too wet. That stuff looks like the really fine stuff that they sell in the garden section of Lowes or HD. If it is, it takes much less water to soak it than the more coarse stuff. The vermiculite should feel almost dry to the touch. A wise man once told me, better too dry than too wet. (I think he meant eggs). You can always add more water, but too wet will definitely kill eggs.

[Ginevive]

See, I thought that the verm was too dry. It does not feel like you can wring it out or anything. I know why the eggs look so moist though; condensation was/is forming on the dead eggs, and the one that you can see in the bottom-right in the first pic, actually has a pool of liquid on one of its dents.. not sure if maybe it got a small hole, or if it is just from it being rotten. This is definately not from condensation in the tub, because the inner lid is bone-dry; this was my first thought, but no water has dripped from the tub lid to the eggs. I have decided to throw them out and keep the one that still looks good. This is a tough choice but I am not going to be incubating dead eggs thinking they will live.
I have a tub ready for Ginger's clutch, that is substrateless; water under a plastic grid for the eggs to set on. I figure that is foolproof; the eggs will not touch the water. I am getting some perlite like someone suggested to prevent water from sloshing when the tub is lifted up.
I think it was FreakieFrog whose snakes got thermal burns when his FW spiked.. I am Not 100% sure if it was him though; if not, I apologise.
I hate to blame myself, but I did switch the eggs to this new container on that saturday; maybe that caused the temps to spike? I didn't think that it'd make a difference, but I had to do this because the only container I had that day that could accomodate the piled eggs, was one that needed a sheet of glass for a lid, and it was not going to retain humidity properly. I bought the Ziploc tubs not factoring-in that the eggs could be in a pile that I could not seperate.. stupid on my part, but they did have Tiny yellow spots on them before the spike happened, and now hearing Tim say that they look like they were bad for quite some time (they were laid on the first) I do not feel so bad. For whatever reason, they were defective before the thermal spike. Now this remaining egg does not look rotten, so I am going to keep it and sit it out.. I am happy to say that I have my second incubator on and ready for Ginger's brood. I used a big styro cooler and put the incubator top over it, and this has been holding temps steady with the egg tub in..
I appreciate you guys/gals so much..

[muddoc]

Jen,
Your plan sounds like a good one. Live, Breed and Learn. It's what makes us better keepers and breeders. Sometimes mistakes or mishaps are the most valuable learning experiences. I send many good vibes for that last egg. Hopefully you get a beautiful snake out of there.