What's going on with this egg?

This is my first clutch, laid around 5/14 so coming up on a month old. I'm using the substrateless incubation method, and followed the directions on the WOBP site (Perlite with enough water that it started to collect on the bottom of the tub, a light diffuser separating the eggs from the substrate, and press-n-seal between the eggs and lid of the container). The incubator is set at 88F.

All of the eggs candled well when I put them in. This egg wasn't attached to the rest, but was still coiled with them. The eggs seem to look a bit deflated, though not dented like ready-to-hatch eggs.

This one in particular has started turning colors on me. I can't tell if it's mold forming or just going bad. I sprayed a bit more water in the tub a few days ago, in case they were dehydrated, and I did not notice a smell. I didn't stick my nose into the tub either, so it's possible any odors are subtle at this point. Aside from briefly adding a bit of water, I've only opened the incubator door once to add my second clutch, and haven't touched any of the eggs themselves since they went in. A second egg in this clutch has a couple purple/green splotches on it, but they aren't big.

What do you guys think the issue is? A bad egg is a bad egg, and since it isn't attached to the others it's not a huge deal. But if there's a husbandry issue I want to correct it so I don't lose the rest of this clutch or the second one that was added on 6/1.

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/06...bcb20467b4.jpg

Looks to me like it's starting to go bad.

Here is what I would do

1# Candle the egg

2# Wipe the egg clean

3# Apply some Elmer glue (the one use by kids in school) on the moldy area and a little past that area, you can also use Athlete's foot powder

4# Put back in the incubator and see how it goes


If the egg is still viable it will slow down the progression of the mold, the good news is that I have seen perfect hatchlings coming out of ugly moldy eggs.

Hey, Deborah, how do you wipe eggs clean? How long after laying should you clean them off? (Asking cuz im planning on breeding monitor lizards who bury the eggs in the dirt.) Sorry for making this off topic.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Deborah

Looks to me like it's starting to go bad.

Here is what I would do

1# Candle the egg

2# Wipe the egg clean

3# Apply some Elmer glue (the one use by kids in school) on the moldy area and a little past that area, you can also use Athlete's foot powder

4# Put back in the incubator and see how it goes


If the egg is still viable it will slow down the progression of the mold, the good news is that I have seen perfect hatchlings coming out of ugly moldy eggs.

---

Thanks! I also saw hydrogen peroxide recommended as a cleaner - what's your opinion on that?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Daniel.michelle

Hey, Deborah, how do you wipe eggs clean? How long after laying should you clean them off? (Asking cuz im planning on breeding monitor lizards who bury the eggs in the dirt.) Sorry for making this off topic.

---

Totally welcomed question and I don't consider it off topic at all. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Daniel.michelle

Hey, Deborah, how do you wipe eggs clean? How long after laying should you clean them off? (Asking cuz im planning on breeding monitor lizards who bury the eggs in the dirt.) Sorry for making this off topic.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Chkadii

Thanks! I also saw hydrogen peroxide recommended as a cleaner - what's your opinion on that?

Totally welcomed question and I don't consider it off topic at all. :)

---

I'll try to answer both questions.

I would not consider anything for wiping up eggs than a slightly damp paper towel (damp with water)

There is no need to clean eggs unless there is a mold issue, dirty eggs because of dirt is not an issue and I would leave them alone.

Ok, thank you very much!

About a 5 months ago my sav layed eggs and i wasnt prepared so i left dirt caked on the eggs... they were infirtle anyway, but i caught them mating again about a week ago so i have my fingers crossed. I just dont want to damage the eggs.

No luck with the egg. When I opened the container the smell hit me, and the egg had degraded even further than what was shown in the picture. The hidden side was bad; I had thought the mold(?) was evenly spread around the top of the egg, not covering 3/4 of it. The shell had developed these little orange nodes on it, and felt way squishier than the others in the clutch, so I just tossed it.

As for the other eggs, they are kind of ugly but not turning blue or green. I candled them and still saw veins - a bit smaller than what I remember but the fluid was still a yellow/orange color. I covered them back up with the press-n-seal and popped them back in the 'bator. Not sure if there's anything else I can really do now but wait it out and hope they make it through the next 30ish days.

Did you candle the egg before throwing it out? I trust your judgement but am curious because I have some eggs looked like that.

I did, but admittedly not very thoroughly. It was hard to discern anything through the colored section and I avoided the gooey growth/alien landscape section. The white part of the shell on the bottom didn't have any veins as far as I could see, and the color of the fluid seemed more opaque, if that makes sense.

As gross as it was, I'm kicking myself for not taking more pictures or cleaning the egg off anyway. I'm still convinced it couldn't be salvaged, but I couldn't find much in the way of moldy BP eggs online when I was debating what to do about this one. The images are usually of fresh infertile eggs, deceased pre-hatchlings out of bad eggs, or success stories of eggs post-treatment. If you care to post a pic of yours I can tell you whether or not mine looked worse by comparison, but that's about as helpful as I can be right now. I will be sure to document everything if any of the other eggs from the clutch start to turn, though!

deborah said something earlier about putting elmers glue o the eggs? what is that supposed to do for the egg? I've never heard of doing that before.