Can't seem to keep humidity high enough

I'm waiting until payday to buy a new humidity gauge, but for the time being I have a hydrofarm thermostat connected to the incubator. The eggs are from a friend who had an unexpected clutch...and so the incubator wasn't even set up until the day we got the eggs. It is originally intended for bp eggs for next season.

My understanding is that corn eggs require a much lower temp than bps, and we've had a steady temp of 82F. I'm finding that with a lower temp, I just can't keep the humidity up, and many of the eggs are dimpling far too much. I just added a couple shallow bowls of water into the incubator, as well as adding a barely damp papertowel on top of the eggs. I also just tried misting inside the incubator itself (but not on the eggs). I'm hoping this bumps the humidity up, but is there anything else I can do?

All 16 eggs have vascularity and I'm told they are pretty hardy, but we weren't anticipating even using the incubator for a few months :P I appreciate any advice.

Do you have them in a lidded container inside the incubator? If not, you should. Those little Gladware containers work great with just a tiny pin hole in the lid. I mix mine with a 5:1 volume ratio of vermiculite to water and cover the eggs most of the way with maybe just a little bit of the tops sticking out. Then I lay a piece of paper towel over the top to catch any drops of condensation. If you need to rehydrate dried out eggs, I would set up as I described and then lay a layer of moist (wrung out) sphagnum moss over the top of them at least until they start looking plump again, which could take a few days. Good luck! What kind of corns are you expecting?

Make sure you put your temp probe in the egg container when you get them into a gladware container. Measure temps where the eggs are instead of the general incubator temps that way.

Good luck!

Yeah they're in a sterilite 6qt tub with locking lid. Probe sits just barely against the substrate, which is pearlite. I might have some sphagnum moss sitting around somewhere.

I am horrible at cornsnake morphs, never really kept them, but mom looks maybe like some sore of hypomel. Lots od orangey reddish colors. I've never even seen the sire. Apparently they were only together temporarily for a maximum of 2 hours... I guess she was ready for babies. Lol

Do you have plastic wrap under the lid? I hear that works well.

The eggs seem to be less dimpled today, I'm thinking misting the incubator is helping. I'll try the plastic wrap idea too

I hope the eggs and the humidy get better.:please:

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Originally Posted by SuperAwesomeSnake

I hope the eggs and the humidy get better.:please:

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Yes! They've been doing great. I have paper towels sitting on the shelf in the bator, and 3 tupperware bowls filled with water sitting around. I also am misting every couple of days in the incubator, but not in the tub.

Of course, turns out one of our normal girl balls we picked up recently is pregnant, and her timeline should put her at laying just after the corns hatch, but there's a chance she'll lay before they hatch. Here's to hoping the woman we're incubating for gets her incubator set up fast!