Missed Egg Laying

I have a girl that I just noticed laid. I fed all but four of my 14 snakes on Sunday and have been checking every other day or so for eggs (not any more often than that as it didn't look like any of the four girls that I paired were going to lay) just in case any laid after all. I already had the incubator setup with a tub full of substrate so I immediately removed mom, put the eggs in the tub and then the incubator, cleaned moms tub and then put her away. I took a temp reading of the eggs before collecting them and they were sitting at 80 degrees.

My question is, how many days could they potentially survive at that temperature? I don't believe that it was any more than 4 or 5 days but can't say for sure, it may have been as little as 2. Life is crazy hectic at the moment and I never caught any ovulations, so I never had anything to set a countdown timer from. Any advice from someone who's had something similar happen before or heard about it? Thank you!

They should be just fine. The breaker my incubator was on last year tripped and the eggs set for up to 5 days before I got home and discovered it. I'm not sure when it tripped but the eggs were are 78 degrees(room temp) and they all hatched. If mom was still on the eggs, ID put money on it they are fine. Best of luck.

That's great to hear, thank you! How did the event set back the time to hatch?

Should be ok. Did you candle them for veins?

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Originally Posted by gsarchie

That's great to hear, thank you! How did the event set back the time to hatch?

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I got pips on day 64 and 65 I believe for both clutches in it.

I'm still fairly new, but I'd think if they were with the mother, they were probably fine... Mother nature has been hatching eggs for a long time without incubators... :)

It's really hard to tell, I can tell you that eggs are resilient and have more chances if the issue is about low temps versus cool temps.

If you have not done so candle them and than candle them again in 3 to 5 days after that simply glance at them and watch for any signs of mold which could suggest a problem.

As far as how long will it take, same thing hard to tell you will have to let them pip on their own or let one pip and cut the rest, I can tell you that I incubate at 88.5 degrees and my hatchlings pip on their own at day 60/61 so you are definitely looking at a longer incubation period, by how many days no one can tell you for certain.

Good luck.

Thanks for the reply Deb! Assuming that they make it, I will try not to cut, though I know that is easier said than done. They candled fine last night, and by this morning were up to 89.6 degrees when I opened the incubator/tub and hit them with my temp gun. Tons of veins in all of them and a nice pink glow. Here is a crappy picture since my phone no longer knows how to auto focus. Might be that it is a 3 year old smart phone and the updates are starting to make it get weird. I'll keep this updated as thing progress. Thanks for all the input.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...pssvvkgxhd.jpg

For those interested, the pairing was a Hooker and Flat Top from my signature. In addition to the 6 good eggs I had 2 slugs.

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Originally Posted by gsarchie

Thanks for the reply Deb! Assuming that they make it, I will try not to cut, though I know that is easier said than done. They candled fine last night, and by this morning were up to 89.6 degrees when I opened the incubator/tub and hit them with my temp gun. Tons of veins in all of them and a nice pink glow. Here is a crappy picture since my phone no longer knows how to auto focus. Might be that it is a 3 year old smart phone and the updates are starting to make it get weird. I'll keep this updated as thing progress. Thanks for all the input.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...pssvvkgxhd.jpg

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Well they look good (nice and plump) and if they candle good chances are they will go full term, just don't know when that will be because of the few days at lower temp. Once one pip cut but until one does stay on the safe size, you don't want to cut too early and expose an hatchling that is not ready to bacteria for days.

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SO the container with the eggs isn't completely air tight and I may be a bit low on moisture content in it. If it is too dry then the eggs should start to wrinkle and shrink, correct?

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Originally Posted by gsarchie

SO the container with the eggs isn't completely air tight and I may be a bit low on moisture content in it. If it is too dry then the eggs should start to wrinkle and shrink, correct?

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Eggs will start to deflate and if the issue is not corrected they can reach the point of being too far gone, obviously you don't want that, your humidity should be as close to 100% as possible. A simple fix would be some glad press and seal.

Sounds good, I'll pick some up. I'd thought about that as a solution. I also need to get a 2nd tub ready to go incase any of my other three girls go this year.

Two eggs went bad a while back but the other four are looking good. They are dimpled and the humidity in the tubs is increasing. Sunday is day 55 so I am hoping to see some activity by then. If not will look at cutting but not before then, if at all.

1 egg did in fact go bad but the other three are doing great. I cut one on day 57 to see if it was alive and the other two on day 60, which was yesterday. Today, the two that I cut yesterday are hanging out of the eggs but are not fully out yet, and the one that I cut on day 57 still hasn't popped a head out yet. Looks like ate least one is hypo if not two and one of the hypos may be a sable. I believe the third is a normal sable but I am not sure. The one that died was definitely a sable. I will share pictures soon in another thread.

Congrats on the hatch out! Can't wait to see pics!

SO the non-hypo is eyeless and has a crimped looking snout on the sides. It appears to be viable, however, as it finally stuck its head out overnight last night. If it makes it out I'll put some photos up of its head so you can see what I am talking about.