egg question

[Tawny]

My ball python laid eggs on Monday. I had a nest box set up with vermiculite with water on the bottom, grate on top of that and moss on top of the grate. She layed just fine - 5 good eggs with veins. I took the one egg that wasn't attached and placed it in the incubator and left the rest for her to incubate herself. 3 full days in the 4 remaining eggs looked horrible. They look wet and are very squishy and although I don't see any mold on them there is a moldy odor. I took her off them and placed the remaining eggs in the incubator as the 1 egg in there looks great. I candled the 4 eggs and they all have veins but 2 of them aren't great. The eggs themselves look funky to me. When I picked them up off the moss the bottoms felt really damp and the integrity of the eggs themselves feels more fragile. Is there any way to save them other than what I did?
They are on perlite in the incubator. I read I could possibly put more dry perlite around them some?
I didn't think they would go bad that fast but if they got wet I'm guessing it's possible?
I have another BP due to lay in about 2 months. Will be putting her eggs straight into the incubator lol.
This is my first experience with BP breeding. Hate to lose 4 of 5 eggs of a pied x pied breeding.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Without pictures (eggs and setup) it's hard to tell if anything is salvageable and what to do if they are.

[OTorresUSMC]

This is why I think a lot of people dont maternal incubate. I also had my first clutch just recently and was toying with the idea of maternal but decided against it. All six of my eggs just hatched two days ago and all snakes alive and well. Incubator allows you to set a near perfect environment. My guess is the eggs got too wet because of the moss. Once they are wet like that from what I have read could be hard to save. If there is no mold I suppose it shouldnt do any harm to keep them in the incubator and see what happens. Hopefully Deb will reply on here, super knowledgeable and always seems to have good info. Good luck with your eggs.

[Trisnake]

Pictures are worth a thousand words.

Sounds to me that the eggs were being kept too wet for the period they were in the egg box. Not sure if there's anything more you can do other than what you did by putting them in the incubator. Hopefully being placed in the proper environment will strengthen the eggs enough to pull through.

Hopefully someone whos had a similar experience will reply.

[Tawny]

Well, I've thrown 3 of them away They all turned really green and upon candeling had no veins and looked nasty on the inside.One of the 4 has a little spot of mold but not much and looks relatively good. What a mess. They only one I'm positive will hatch (given no other issues) is the one I put in the incubator the day it was layed. It's nice and white with great veins.
My next clutch is due in about 2 months. These will go in the incubator on day one.
I'll try to post pictures tomorrow.
Also, thinking about buying the Exo Terra incubator. Any thoughts?

[OTorresUSMC]

Well, I've thrown 3 of them away They all turned really green and upon candeling had no veins and looked nasty on the inside.One of the 4 has a little spot of mold but not much and looks relatively good. What a mess. They only one I'm positive will hatch (given no other issues) is the one I put in the incubator the day it was layed. It's nice and white with great veins.
My next clutch is due in about 2 months. These will go in the incubator on day one.
I'll try to post pictures tomorrow.
Also, thinking about buying the Exo Terra incubator. Any thoughts?

Honestly it's so much more cost effective to just build one. Of course it comes down to the size you need tho

[Alexiel03]

Well, I've thrown 3 of them away They all turned really green and upon candeling had no veins and looked nasty on the inside.One of the 4 has a little spot of mold but not much and looks relatively good. What a mess. They only one I'm positive will hatch (given no other issues) is the one I put in the incubator the day it was layed. It's nice and white with great veins.
My next clutch is due in about 2 months. These will go in the incubator on day one.
I'll try to post pictures tomorrow.
Also, thinking about buying the Exo Terra incubator. Any thoughts?

I have pics of my incubator setup here, was easy to do and works great. It cost less than $50 to make

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?url...9&share_type=t
Small incubator


Sent from my LGL39C using Tapatalk

[Scosta56]

Sorry to hear about your eggs going bad. I did maternal incubation this year for the first time on my pied to spider het pied. Had 7 eggs all 7 eggs hatched perfectly fine. I also set my female up like the eggs would of been in the incubator with vermiculite. Held my humidity extremely well. My girl cooked them at 88 degrees and all hatched out at 55 days. It was an amazing experience don't give up on it yet. Next year give your girl medium that you would use in the incubator and see if it changes your outcome. Also try and watch how much water your adding . You can always add more water you can't take it away. Less is more and increase as needed.

[Tawny]

I have 2 more females due and think I'm going to put both sets of eggs in the incubator. May try the maternal incubation again with a cheap normal instead. lol.
The one egg I do have left looks perfect. I candled it yesterday (day 14) and could see the heartbeat as well as it moving around. 40+ more days to go seems like an eternity! Going to leave it alone for awhile but if I candle it close to hatch day will I be able to see how much white it's going to have? It's going to be pied as both parents are pied but i'm curious when the color comes in and if you can see it it before hatching.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=chEKDuzOHKg