Semi-emergency? Maybe

[wolfy-hound]

I'm seriously weirded out.
I had a small clutch(3 eggs) in the incubator. These eggs never looked good, but I left them in anyway.
Two eggs are completely nasty... molded, dead eggs. I left them in there simply because they didn't really stink, and I wanted to wait til garbage day to throw it all out.
Egg 3 is under the other two(all stuck together) and it was sunken in and all also, so I never even thought about it. All three looked dead. Nasty and icky.
Today... I pulled the container out, and decided to open the eggs to see if they had been fertile at all. I expected to find some partially formed snakes and instead... egg 3 has a LIVE baby. But it's still attached to the other nasty two. I would not have cut it open, and the cut is not huge, but significantly there.
Now what?? The eggs were day 55 on this past saturday.. the nasty two eggs can't be peeled free or taken loose without destroying the one good one. But they are really nasty, and I swear I may have even seen a maggot on one!
Help! I've never experianced this before? I put the container back into the incubator for now, so.. any ideas??
To top it off, I swear it looks almost like another spider ball in there!!!! (Of course I can't tell for sure)

[lord jackel]

First Relax...Deep Breath...and Congratulations.


At day 55 the baby will survive. I assume by cutting you didn't break the egg yolk just the white egg covering?

Snake eggs have a natural anti-mold, anti-fungal coating so that is the reason why it didn't get disgusting like the other 2.

I would just leave the whole lot in the incubator and wait (you can also cut away the bad egg parts that aren't in contact with the good egg...which will help cut down on the smell)

But either way in a few more days you should have a nice new baby.

BTW...it can't be a maggot as that would require flies in your incubator

[wolfy-hound]

I live in florida, so it may very well be a gnat maggot(I assume gnats start as maggots). Bugs are heavy right now.
I did cut only white 'shell' so I would guess that would be fine, I clit the other clutch earlier this year. I was more worried over the bad eggs being right there.
Thanks sooo much.. I can't get over that it's live!! The smell is NOT bad right now... I'm assuming because the eggs were still intact.. so it may get worse now that the one bad egg is open.
I'll be waiting anxiously!!
Thanks so much for the calming words.

[candylee75]

I just read a moment ago on another site that a caregiver used a band aid to seal an accidental hole & the egg went full term. Since your baby is so far along, maybe it won't be necessary...

[Kagez28]

how bout an update wolfy...

[Ginevive]

I would venture to say that, as long as you did not cut the clear sac that the baby is in, things should be ok this far along. But what temp did you incubate at?

[shhhli]

i know this is slightly OT, but if the egg were close to hatching anyways, and the yolk was accidentally slit, even if a small cut- would it, regardless, kill the baby?

just curious.

[wolfy-hound]

Sorry, I did have to go to work today! I just got home to rush and check...
Here's what I found!!!
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v6...t=IMG_0663.jpg
One live baby poking his/her head out. Looks fine to me, head and neck wise of course. Also... looks like another spider!!
I'm anxious to see the entire hatchling out, but... this makes every hatched egg from Sam(dad) a spider so far!
4 eggs, 4 spiders, 3 live babies(one baby died in egg full term)
3 eggs, 1 spider(2 went bad)
3 eggs, Not Hatched yet, still in incubator.

I was incubating at 88-89F in a Nature's Spirit Incubator, but I let them get too dry at one point. I didn't realize my humidity sensor was no good and by the time I did realize it, the eggs were shriveled looking. I added in dampness, but the clutch seemed to rot/mold so I'd really given up on them, and was waiting to toss the contents on garbage day. Boy am I glad I didn't!!!
Thank you to all of you responding!! I was totally paniced over it, and it helped to see folks chime in with "Cool it!! The egg should be fine!" so I could calm myself and deal.
Wolfy

[frankykeno]

How very cool Wolfy! That little snake deserves a really special name having come out from under all that nasty stuff. Can't wait to see it all out and tidied up. Congrats!

[JLC]

What a wonderful surprise! Can't wait to see pics of the little guy all fully hatched and cleaned up!