so turns out my thermometer in my incubator was off... by like 10 degrees!

[Anya]

I edited mine so you're good.

- - - Updated - - -

I only have human breeding experience

And btw, ^^ that cracked me up.

[WifeOfSlasher]

Teeheehee :-P

[Ben.L]

Yikes, sorry to hear about this. Best of luck getting the eggs to full term, especially the one you cut - keep us updated!

[Annarose15]

As for the temp gun, getting a read of 93 on your tongue hanging out of your mouth might not be so inaccurate. Your core body temperature may be 98.6, but evaporative cooling could explain a few degrees difference, for the same reason sweating cools you down. The best thing to do would be to test the gun against the reading from something you know to be accurate. Or, failing that, several things you suspect are accurate. Do you have a thermometer in your fridge? Test it against that, and the probe in your snake cages, et cetera.

^ This. Remember the days when you had to hold the thermometer under your tongue for five minutes, and weren't allowed to talk? That's because opening your mouth to the outside air would have lowered the reading on the thermometer.

Everyone has given very good advice (except the FB jack"rabbit"). I also second Freakie_Frog's suggestion with the cling wrap to close that egg back up, since it could be a few weeks before the baby is fully developed and that's a long time to have it open to bacterial and mold growth.

[OctagonGecko729]

I think we have all had our share of heartbreaking mistakes. Even when you think you have done all the research and setup everything correctly things can go wrong and animals can die. Just make sure that mistakes are used as a tool to better yourself and not to beat up on yourself.

[angelobutter]

ok so I checked the one good thermometer this morning and it says between 84 and 85 degrees. Since I set the temperature back to the original 88 when you guys told me to last night, I am going to guess that they were being incubated between 84 and 85, not as bad as the temp gun said (80) but not great either.

[don15681]

ok so I checked the one good thermometer this morning and it says between 84 and 85 degrees. Since I set the temperature back to the original 88 when you guys told me to last night, I am going to guess that they were being incubated between 84 and 85, not as bad as the temp gun said (80) but not great either.

I know breeders who incubated at these temp with that purpose not a mistake. and everything came out with great results. being higher than the 80 degree makes things better. the post I had posted at the beginning about 97 days at 80.5 degrees f was straight out of the vpi book. the temps you're at if they are correct should be somewhere around 70 days. so it's looking better for the egg that you cut and the others should be fine.

you need to also keep an eye on how the substrate is. opening the tub more will dry it out faster. you are coming to the end of incubation so at day 55 with a mid 80 temp you are about 2 weeks out give or take a few days. this is when I usually leave more air into my egg boxes any way. keep us posted as what's going on so we can help you correct something if needed. good luck, it's not as bad as you thought. I'm waiting to see these eggs pip! don

[hypersomniacjoo]

just want to offer some encouragement - my incubator, on its own, went up to 144 degrees (exoterra incubator- garbage made in china, don't buy!) twice - the first time i don't know for how long, and the 2nd time i caught it in a matter of seconds and immediately drove an hour away to bring the eggs to my friend with an incubator (at 11PM) - out of 8, only one egg went bad, and the 7 babies were perfect.

[don15681]

just want to offer some encouragement - my incubator, on its own, went up to 144 degrees (exoterra incubator- garbage made in china, don't buy!) twice - the first time i don't know for how long, and the 2nd time i caught it in a matter of seconds and immediately drove an hour away to bring the eggs to my friend with an incubator (at 11PM) - out of 8, only one egg went bad, and the 7 babies were perfect.

very possible that the egg that went bad. would of went bad even under perfect conditions, it happens. congratz on your clutch. don

[SlitherinSisters]

I have pics but it wont let me post them (i think my post count is too low) and I just got chewed out by a different snake breeder who told me I pretty much killed them so I am actually feeling pretty crummy. so to anyone else who wants to make me feel bad - I already feel terrible and am crying.
I am using a zoo med temp gun which I have been informed is junk. everything is junk.
I have the temp stable now, but any hope I had is pretty much gone at this point. I suppose I will update when they do/dont hatch to satisfy people's curiosity.

Don't beat yourself up. We all make mistakes in this hobby at some point, live and learn.