Egg deflating slightly day 21

[Austinwwilson16]

I have a clutch of 4 eggs in the incubator, and it's on day 21. On about day 10 I noticed a very slight dimpling in the egg sitting on top, which is progressively getting a little worse. I was told to leave the eggs together unless I knew that they had just been laid within the past few hours. So I left them all together. Well, because I did that, on egg really isn't in contact with the vermiculite, and I think it is a little dryer than the rest. The humidity is about 80-85% and i don't know how to get it any higher. I'm wondering if I can mix up just a little more vermiculite and set it on top of the eggs surrounding it so that it touches the egg that seems to be deflating. I don't see why that would be a problem but I just figured I'd check before I do it. Any other ideas to raise humidity?

[dr del]

Hi,

Yes you can use vermiculite on top of the eggs but you would need to be careful it didn't get too wet as that could damage the eggs underneath.

What kind of tub do you have the eggs in and how tight a seal does it have? Some people have to use press'n'seal under the lid to keep the humidity up - obviously you need to remove it every now and again for air exchange.

Pictures might help a lot - it may well be the amount of dimpling isn't serious enough that you need to do anything at all.

Getting the eggs too wet is a lot more dangerous than a slight dimple for example.


dr del

[BHReptiles]

You can also go somewhere like Home Depot or Lowes and get a light diffuser and cut it to fit the size of your egg box. I usually do two layers of that. Then you can saturate the vermiculite with water and set the eggs on the light diffuser. In addition, add some press-n-seal on top and open it about once a week for air exchange. That should help with the humidity.

[Austinwwilson16]

I haven't tried the press and seal, is that like the plastic stuff people use for food? And I check the eggs once every Saturday and allow some air in, that's what I was told to do. The tub seals fairly well, but I'm sure it's not super tight. I think I'll try putting a little damp vermiculite like I said and see if that helps.

[dr del]

I haven't tried the press and seal, is that like the plastic stuff people use for food? And I check the eggs once every Saturday and allow some air in, that's what I was told to do. The tub seals fairly well, but I'm sure it's not super tight. I think I'll try putting a little damp vermiculite like I said and see if that helps.

If you want - it is the riskiest of the available options though.

[Austinwwilson16]

I only had seran wrap, it's the closest I had to press and seal, hopefully that helps. I added a little water to the vermiculite that is on the other side of the egg box to hopefully help as well. I can see the humidity gauge from outside the egg box so I'll check it tomorrow and see what is going on