Dehydrated Eggs, HELP!!

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I had a clutch of 12 eggs drop on Wednesday, May 22nd. Since then, they have been in incubation at a consistent 79-82 degrees F with over 90% humidity. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of initially placing the eggs in for incubation immediately and BEFORE the incubator had an opportunity to become humid. Therefore, I believe the moisture from the eggs was absorbed which lead to the eggs deflating.

I noticed the deflation the next afternoon, on the 23rd.

I read a handful of posts that recommended a damp paper towel to try to plump them back. I have had them covered using this technique ever since the 23rd but I am not noticing any changes just yet.

I have been straying the paper towel every other day to keep it damp and to allow for a greater flow of air into the incubation.

I left a handful of pictures, at this link I am hoping somebody might be able to give some tips for what I can do to help save the eggs. Or, how I should change my incubation method, if that seems to be the problem here.

*As you can see, in the last pic, there seems to be 2 here that were not all that much effected. I am hoping to work towards getting them all plumped up to that size/health.

Thank you, ahead of time.

Best,
Dom

Eliminate the air flow until they all fill out. I couldn't view the photos but if your humity is high they will fill out.
Years ago I had a neighbor who's snake laid some eggs. I came over a few days after they were laid to see them and to my surprise they were still in the cage (no nest box) with the corn snake. Needless to say they were all wrinkled up. I immediately set up a container with some moist vermiculite and they eventually filled out and all hatched nice hatchlings.

I'm afraid the eggs are too dehydrated to plump back up now. Typically, when people speak of dehydrated eggs they are referring to dimpling, or partial dehydration. You have nothing to lose at this point, so place water on top of each egg with an eye dropper for an hour or so, and then place small pieces of damp paper towels on top of each of them.

I'm not sure what you are calling an incubator, and who told you that the eggs need 90% humidity? Usually we use a hatching medium, such as perlite, in an egg hatching container. The container is then placed in an incubator. Moisture is added to the perlite, but excessive moisture can ruin a complete hatch. Believe me, I've done it.

Your substrate is not a good choice. You need to get sphagnum moss, soak it in water, wring it out until it's just damp, fluff it up and put the eggs on it, surround them with it, and then cover them with it in a container with NO air holes.

Quite likely if the medium I see in the pics was not moist to the touch, it likely leached whatever moisture was initially in the eggs right on out of them.

The eggs need to absorb moisture from the surroundings.

I always used dampened vermiculite. COARSE vermiculite. Ratio of 1 to 5 (or so) water to vermiculte by VOLUME, not weight. You should not be able to squeeze water out of the vermiculite if you have the ratio correct.

Bury the eggs in the vermiculite in an air tight container, and open it up to check on them every two weeks. Basically just forget about them otherwise. When you see the first baby sitting on top of the vermiculite, uncover the rest ones partially to expose the tops of the eggs.

Room temperature in the low 80s will work just fine. I think a little variance between day and night temperatures might actually be good for the developing embryos.

But in this particular instance, at this point, you may have lost the eggs. They can dry out a little bit, but too much and they reach a point of no return. A good way to tell if they might still be viable is to dribble a little bit of water on them. An egg still viable will absorb the water. An egg that has gone bad will just stay wet.

At least that has been my experience when I was doing this stuff.

Two week update!!

The eggs are looking great -->https://imgur.com/a/ZQRdwze

I took a lot of your advice into consideration and kept at it. Those dehydrated eggs are fighting! It is looking like of the 12, I have 10 that are still viable (pictured).

Switched incubation to wet reptichip with damp sphagnumm moss for the eggs to rest on and some on top, as well. Left only a small hole for ventilation and opened it completely evert 2 days.

I will keep you all updated!

Best,
Dom

I don't have personal experience with them, but I was considering them when I was looking