Egg Emergency!!!!

[Jay_Bunny]

The eggs are on day 36. I got home today to find the incubator wide open and the egg box on the floor. Im guessing the cat knocked the thermometer off the top of it and then the dog dragged the thermometer across the floor. The probe was attached to.the egg box and so the egg box took a tumble out onto the floor. I was so upset all I could do is put tje box back into the incubator and shut the door. I did see that at least one egg was busted and I stopped for two seconds to candle two eggs. They still had veins. Im pretty sure none will survive as it was a big tumble and.temps in the room are about 70-72. Last person to leave the house left at 8:30am. It was about 1:15 when I walked in the door. I know there is almost no chance they'll survive. My first ball clutch ever was a wreck too. Lost every baby. This would be my second clutch of balls ever. And.now it too is a wreck
I just don't know what to do. At this point im going to remove the busted egg and straightened up the egg box as.best I can unless you all think that unwise. Then put them back in tje incubator and pray.

Any advice?

[wilomn]

If the busted egg didn't lose too much fluid seal it up and put it back too.

You never know. It was only a few hours and not that far to fall. I've dropped clutches, colubrid not ball, and had them hatch with no problem.

[Jay_Bunny]

How do you seal it up? I took them out of the old egg.box.and set up a clean new one. 4 out of 5 eggs show veins. Even the busted one. One egg has very weak veins and most of them detached. I put them all in the incubator (but I didn't seal the busted one. It is a inch long slit.) It didn't lose too much. About 1/4 to 1/3 id say. I grabbed really quick pictures. Im going to try and post them up so you can get a better idea of their condition. I did not see any movement in any egg.

[Homegrownscales]

Oh man I'm so sorry. I did that a couple months ago with beardy eggs. And I was pretty mad. Out of a 13 egg clutch 3 survived. You can make a band aid of sorts using possibly medical tape. You will just have to make sure the sides are completely dry. It may not survive, but eggs have been busted and rolled before and made it. Dont lose hope.

[dr del]

Hi,

What would be the best way to try and seal the damaged egg? Tissue paper and that liquid bandaid stuff?

I accidently dropped/ kicked an egg about 4 foot accross the room when I took them out to cut them and dropped it onto my foot.

It was obviously right at the end of incubation and it was fine - though I swear it gave me a look when I cut it open.

Does it work that the earlier in the incubation the less risk of damage as there is more liquid to cusion the embryo/ veins or would the larger embryo be generally more robust?

I would keep candling - any changes would take a few days to be easily apparent I suspect. I would also secure either the incubator or the cat and dog.

Fingers crossed for your eggs.


dr del

[Dave Green]

You may be okay. When driving across country I had the incubator slide and fall approx. one foot. I put the eggs back and hoped for the best, they were 1/2 way through the incubation process. I didn't think they would hatch but all the eggs hatched and the babies were fine. In addition, I could only plug the incubator in at night for five days, and during the day I would throw heat packs in the incubator but the temperature was in the low eighties during the day.

[Jay_Bunny]

Busted egg


Egg #1


Egg #2


Egg #3


Egg #4 -busted egg



Egg #5 - weak/detached veins

[Ash]

Oh how awful, I'm so sorry to hear about this. :-( However bad it may seem, I don't think it's very productive to argue over whether they're likely to survive or not. They either wont or they will. The best you can do is put them back in the incubator and hope. I wish you the best! And make sure the animals can't get to them this time

If it's any consolation, I think they have a good chance at recovering if they weren't lying there for long. I've heard that turning them over isn't really as terrible for them as everybody thinks.

[muddoc]

I can say that I have had small holes in eggs before, primarily from me accidently tearing them. In those cases, if left alone, the hole seemed to crust over, and the eggs would re-inflate on their own. After thay crust over, I would apply Elmer's glue to them (this has been my egg treatment "serum" of choice for the last couple years). We have used Elmer's glue to stop water spots, keep them from spreading and stop mold growth.

With all of that said, I think that that tear is too large to seal solely with glue. Now, what I am going to share now, I have not done myself, but have heard of two cases were it was done. One was with a turtle egg and the other with a Ball Python egg. In both cases, a small window was cut in the egg to observe development. After the hole was cut, a piece of Saran wrap was glue over the hole. In this situation, I don't know if Elmer's glue would work, so I would probably try to use Super Glue. Either way, I would take a pair of cuticle (sp?) scissors and cut away the amniotic fluid that is hanging out (believe it or not, it does cut, as it is very visco-elastic in nature) and then blot dry the egg (too much pressure trying to dry it off will force out more liquid). Then cut a piece of Saran wrap to be about 1/4 " bigger in any direction to fully cover the split. The put a small line of Super Glue around the edge of the Saran wrap and stick it over the split. I personally think this will give you the best shot. It may not work, but I surely would try it.

If you do try something, please keep us posted with updated shots, as I would love to be able to use this post in the future as a place to direct people with serious egg issues. Lastly, I would not worry too much about the fluid loss, as eggs are very osmotic, and the egg will more than likely absorb water to replinish most of the fluid it lost.

I hope that helps, and good luck.

[Jay_Bunny]

Will gorilla super glue be okay? Im going to try the plastic wrap. Would it be better to cut the window or just seal up the slit with the plastic over it?