pics of eggs..

I am just going to have to make do with what I have. My work slashed my bonus check and I barely have enough to make our car payment, it is so pathetic. I don't even have anything to sell on ebay like I usually would in this predicament. I don't think that the incubator is the culprit here though, because honestly now that it is up and going, it has held steady at 88.7 degrees and even though I look at it every chance I get, it stays exactly at that temp. This was from Sunday to today.. no variation at all.
I am definately going with the substrateless box.. so I have my humidity and temperature stability ready for the next clutch.

The piled eggs were obviously dead, so I got brave and cut one open. What came out was a bunch of white, but there was No embryo in it, nor were there any veins..! I read some of the book "The Reproductive Husbandry of Pythons and Boas" by Richard Ross and Gerald Marzec; it illustrates some eggs that were "born bad" and unviable; these eggs in the photo look just like mine looked the day theyw ere laid; they had small, less-than-a centimeter yellowy spots that gradually expanded as the egg rotted.. they lose their immunity either once the embryo dies, or if there was never one.
I feel so much better now, knowing that they were not viable from the start. Thank you Tim, for bringing this possibility to light, in saying that they looked like they were rotting longer..
I am actually glad in a way, to know that they were not viable, because it was not anything I could have changed.. the last egg has the yellowy spots and one is expanding; only time will tell but I kept it on in the incubator after discarding the rest.

I would not necessarily say that the hovabator is crap. When I first started out, it is what I used for many years. I believe it was on my third year of use that I had any problems. My elec. had flickered and tweaked the wafer thermostat. The temps shot to 120F!! My eggs were a week from hatching so I decided to cut them open to see the damage. My first two albino balls!!! Crap! :mad: :mad:

The really sad part is that I had just been told about two weeks prior that Big Apple suggested to change the wafers out every other year due to a high failure rate. I blew it off. I really felt like an idiot afterwards. :rolleye2:

Anyway I looked at it as a learning experiment and am glad to see that you are doing the same. I would just have the hovabator wafer backed up by a better thermostat.

Interesting.. if you don't miny my asking, how would you go about using a therostat with a hova? I am just curious; would it be by just getting one and plugging the inc. into it? I apologise for being a complete electronics dweeb. :)
The incubator is still at 88.7 degrees now, and I was just given a new-in-box incubator that's the same brand and model. I took the top of this and sealed off the bottom of a larger fish cooler for an incubator. This Sunday, I will be setting this up and stabilizing it.. since Ginger just had her prelay shed yesterday. :)

Jen, if you get a chance, take a pic of that last egg for me. I'm very interested in the spot on it that you were talking about.
As for the thermostat, just plug the bator into the thermostat ,stick the probe in the box and set the temp. The thermostat will pick up the temp from the probe and regulate the heating element.

This is that last egg today. (top left.) I moved it into the substrateless tub (substrate in water under the grid, not in contact w/ egg.) today. I did so because the nastiness from the dead eggs was seeping into the vermiculite of the other tub and it was just disgusting. :( I am taking out the other one on the bottom in this pic because it is obviously dead also; I will update you on that.
I don't know; this egg will probably die too. I candled it with a flashlight today and I actually do not see any veins.
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s...Acres/dead.jpg
\These were the eggs when they were laid on the first. It is hard to see because my flash on the camera washed them out, but they did have small dented yellowy spots.. they were dented like this hours after being laid; not smooth and nice like I see most people's healthy eggs. :(
But after seeing that at least two of the dead ones had no veins nor visible embryos, I guess they were nothing from the start.

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s...g?t=1178847634

Jen I definitely do't want to be the bearer of bad news, but that top left egg doesn't look like it will make it to me. However, pictures can be deceiving, so I would keep incubating it until you were sure it was dead.
p.s. You'll know it's dead, because it will smell like a skunk died in there. Very odoriferous. Good luck on that one, and I hope you have much better luck with your next clutch.

Thanks Tim.. I do not know yet. It is not decaying as bad as the others did as fast for some reason. The other one in the pic is definately dead, and I am going to cut it open when I get home from wirk later on.. I'll keep ya posted.

Let me know how that egg cutting went. I hope you had some nose plugs. I cut one open last year that was a little bit older than that one. Man did that stink. Looked like a cooked egg inside.

Eew.. I know how it will smell because a few days ago I cut up that other one.. Blech! It is indescribable.. and I am someone who does not even like eating or smelling normal poultry eggs to begin with!
I will update after I open this second-last one.