HELP! A week into incubation and something is wrong...dimpling!

[Kourtneyhk]

Hi everyone,

My first girl to lay (first clutch I've ever dealt with!) laid her eggs on 4-4-14 (so they've only been in the incubator for a week!). I had the incubator and egg box set up, all the temperatures and humidity was right, put the eggs in, and everything was fine. On 4-6-14 (so only two days in), I had to leave for a business trip and just got back home about an hour ago. I had a family member who has never dealt with snake eggs "egg sit" for me to make sure that the temps and humidity were right. There wasn't a single problem with the temperatures or humidity while I was gone, so I wasn't worried about them upon my return.

Apparently, we were fooled.

I looked into my incubator to check temps and first, saw this (black is the temp and humidity IN egg box, yellow is temp in incubator):


However, I decided to check on the eggs again just in case, and this is what I found:


As you can see, one is severely dimpled/caved, and a couple of the others are showing minor dimpling. The water you see under the egg crate is water I just added to the substrate before this picture was taken, but is not touching the eggs and had not fully absorbed into the substrate at that time. The substrate was NOT dry when I pulled the container out (a little condensation on the egg container!). My humidity probe is very quick to react, within seconds of pulling it from the bin, the reading changed.

Here are a few more pictures:




Here is another picture of the egg with the worst caving. This is after I returned it to the incubator. I candled all eggs while I had them out, and all are more developed than they were five days ago. However, you can see the color change on the bottom of the caved egg (to be honest, I'm not entirely sure if that is from water splashing on the egg as I poured it in, or if that was there beforehand).



What are your opinions on this? Should I add some moss to the bin to raise the humidity more? Do you think the caved eggs are doomed? I have another clutch due in about a week and a half, so I'm really worried about what is going on. Any advice at all would be SO appreciated!

Thanks,
Kourtney

[Kourtneyhk]

Also, forgot to add, that the egg box DOES have a lid on. The lid is snapped in the back, and in the front it is just cracked to let the temp, humidity, and thermostat probe inside. Open maybe 1/16-1/8th of an inch.

[bcr229]

I have the same black digital thermometer/hygrometer that you do, and like you the humidity reads 99% in the egg box. My eggs are due to hatch in about 3 weeks and only show some minimal dimpling now.

Where is the humidity sensor, on top of the egg crate, on the eggs, up high...? Mine is up high. If you had it down on the egg crate maybe it gave a false-high reading from being too close to the substrate?

[I-KandyReptiles]

Add press and seal to the container and "burp" every few days.


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[Kourtneyhk]

I have the same black digital thermometer/hygrometer that you do, and like you the humidity reads 99% in the egg box. My eggs are due to hatch in about 3 weeks and only show some minimal dimpling now.

Where is the humidity sensor, on top of the egg crate, on the eggs, up high...? Mine is up high. If you had it down on the egg crate maybe it gave a false-high reading from being too close to the substrate?

I have the humidity sensor mid-level in box, so slightly above the eggs. I've NEVER had issues with this sensor before and I have used it for many other projects!

Add press and seal to the container and "burp" every few days.

I am out of Press and Seal (OF COURSE, right?) so I put regular plastic wrap on it for tonight and will be getting more P&S tomorrow.

When I was putting the plastic wrap on the box, I touched the caved egg, and the color change on the egg feels like moisture that was absorbed by the shell as I poured in water. I've also added moss around the edges to absorb any extra water and also keep humidity up mid box. No moss is touching the eggs, however.

I'm super nervous for my babies! Will the dimpled eggs "plump up" at all, or will they stay dimpled now?

[dr del]

It definitely looks like the egg has gotten wet on the bottom. You might want to lift it gently and see if you need to reduce the water level.

[Kourtneyhk]

It definitely looks like the egg has gotten wet on the bottom. You might want to lift it gently and see if you need to reduce the water level.

I checked it out when I added the plastic wrap by lifting and the water level was fine, I think some water splashed up as I was putting the box back in the incubator.

This morning, there is a lot of condensation on the sides and some on the plastic wrap of the egg box, but none on the eggs. No reducing in dimpling. Is this normal? Anything else I should change? I have damp moss around the edges of the box, should I keep this in or remove it?

Thanks again everyone, this is so stressful!

[Ladybugzcrunch]

Also, the egg may be infertile. Have you candled the eggs? I put two layers of egg crate in my egg boxes because the eggs can "bend" into the holes of the crate and touch the wet substrate. My guess is that egg either got too wet on the bottom and is going bad or it was never a good egg to begin with. I would candle then let them be. If the egg gets moldy, hard (solidified solids within the egg) or smelly you will know for sure.

[Kourtneyhk]

Also, the egg may be infertile. Have you candled the eggs? I put two layers of egg crate in my egg boxes because the eggs can "bend" into the holes of the crate and touch the wet substrate. My guess is that egg either got too wet on the bottom and is going bad or it was never a good egg to begin with. I would candle then let them be. If the egg gets moldy, hard (solidified solids within the egg) or smelly you will know for sure.

All eggs candled good the day they were laid, and I checked them all yesterday and all were more developed than they were before I left for my 5-day trip.

I will add another layer of egg carton.

Do the eggs plump back up as the humidity is increased, or will they stay dented? None of the eggs were solidified, stinky, odd colors (except for the spots where the shell was thinner when she laid, so those aren't abnormal), all look great EXCEPT for the dimpling. Is there anything else I should add? I just don't know if I'm supposed to see the dimples disappear, or if they are permanently dimpled now....

[Pythonfriend]

i dont think adding moss or something will help, because when the humidity is already at 99%, you wont be able to raise it more, no matter what you do. the whole bottom is full of water, its sealed, condensation is going on, and its at 99%, so i really think its saturated. at this point, attempts to increase humidty will instead increase condensation.


i dont think there is much you can do. the setup seems fine as it is.

i heared that some people try to re-fill the egg with medical isotonic saline solution (the stuff that can be added into the human blood stream). they put it in with a syringe and seal the hole with some kind of super glue. but you really need to find someone who has actually done it, im not sure about the details. it might do more harm than good.

sometimes the solution is to keep the conditions as ideal as they are, and to do nothing.