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eggs dented/swollen

O

Otter_23

New member
I have a clutch of 19 eggs sitting in sphagnum moss. I didn't switch them to vermiculite/perlite yet because for the most part up to this point they have been doing well and there are two clumps that stick up and a couple that are separate. They are on day 26 and I noticed last night that one egg is dented in two spots. I assumed this was because of low humidity but the moss that was around this egg was still damp looking and not dryed out like some of the moss on top (which I assume is because I am using a hovabator). I would generally take the dry moss and replace it with dark looking moss and then rehydrate the dry moss and add it back else where. I also have added some water in on the sides. The container has a hole from a soldering iron on two opposite corners (two total). There is never moisture on the lid of the container. Now what is confusing me is today while taking a better look another egg on the other side now has a little dent and in addition I have two that look swollen with one of them that is sweating some. I thought this condition is attributed to to much moisture. So I'm not sure now if I have to little moisture or too much. I was also thinking that maybe I need to add more air holes for better ventilation. One other note I had the temp set at 84 degrees that I read from the thermometer that came with the incubator. On oversite I realized that it was set on the floor and not on top of the containers which are closer to the coils of the incubator and I think the temp in reality may have been closer to 88 but that is just a hypothesis. I have taken the containers out and left them with the lids off for awhile and reset the temp to read 82 on top of the containers. Any chance of saving these eggs and any suggestions will be much appreciated.
Mark Westberg
 
I also have a clutch of 12 eggs that are exactly 14 days younger and are in the same incubator with same setup. They look fine right now but I don't would like to avoid the same situation with these eggs.
Mark
 
These are the steps that I have taken. I put dampened paper towel on the two that were dented. The newer dented one seems to be popping back out but the other one doesn't appear to have changed at all. The swollen egg was put on top of the moss and I let the container air out for about an hour. It is still sweating some so I have put a dry paper towel over that egg. I have also added 3 more holes in the container to hopefully increase the air circulation and I now have the temperatures at 82 degrees. I have also purchased a small flashlight and will candle at least the swollen egg and will try the dented eggs but they are part of two different clumps and I don't want to jeopardize the good eggs trying to candle them.
Mark
 
Update
Heh, before I was able to candle the eggs I made sure the flashlight was working and turned it off. Well this evening apparantly the flashlight wasn't off and aaaa batteries are already dead so I'll have to wait tomorrow. One of the dented eggs has filled back out nicely. The original dented one had a little white mold on it so I have swabbed it with listerine. I also separated it by using the dental floss method and the eggs it was attached to appear fine with a little mark on them where the dented egg was attached. This dented one isn't filling up and I have a feeling it either died or was infertile but I did dig a hole in the moss and placed it in it's verticle position and can hope, but I'm thinking since it isn't getting any better and it is growing small amounts of mold it's not going to make it. The sweating swollen one is still sweating a little bit so I placed it on a piece of dry paper towel on the moss and put a piece of dry paper towel over it. This egg was odd shaped to begin with like big tear drop. I haven't lost faith in this one yet. The other 17 appear to be doing fine.
Mark
 
Update
The first dented one that appeared to be infertile was and was removed from the two eggs it was joined too. The other dented egg popped out after a day and a half and to be honest I can't even remember which egg it was. The sweating egg after a few days of being on dry paper towels on the moss has reduced in size and now appears to be fine like the rest of them. It is still odd shaped like a big tear drop but it is the same size as the rest of them and is not sweating anymore. The additional few holes that I put in the containers seems to have helped. Some of the moss dries on top but I just mix it in with the more moist moss and the other 18 eggs all appear to be doing well now. They are on day 44. The other clutch that was 14 days later had one egg that was growing a little mold on it. I swabbed some listerine on this egg and got the mold off. It appears to be doing well. A few of these eggs look good but when I lift them up they look like they grew a pot belly. I'm assuming that this is too much humidity and have mixed some of the drier moss under these eggs. I think that they will be fine.
Mark
 
Update,
The anery clutch started to pip on 7/1. Well so far all but two have pipped and most are out of their eggs. The swollen sweating egg produced a nice looking anery baby. Which is a surprise because I was expecting all normals that would be double het for snow. So Surprise is dad who I have had for 10 years was amel het anery. Now surprise no. 2 The mom is anery but not sure of her genetics beyond that turns out to be het amel. From a clutch 18 good eggs and 1 bad egg I expected all normals that would be het snow. What I have up to this point are 2 normals double het, 2 amel babies, 7 anery babies and 5 snows with two that haven't pipped yet. Now I wonder what surprises my female amel will pop out in a few weeks with her clutch of 12 which appear to be doing well except one egg that has to be swathed with a little listerine every few weeks because of a little white mold. Thanks for your time.
Mark
 
Final update,
I had 18 good eggs and one bad egg that was thrown out. Yet I ended up with 19 babies. i had twin anerys.
Mark
 
Congratulations - that is great news! Just goes to show eggs don't have to look perfect to produce healthy babies. How many days did yours pip at? Mine are now at day 48. I know what you mean about not knowing if it is too humid or not humid enough. Some of my eggs feel very firm to touch, others are softer but it's the first time I've bred corns so I don't know what they "should" feel like. My temps are around 84 and humidity constant at 80% (I have to keep misting though - they're on damp vermiculite with two holes around 1/4 inch across for thermometer and thermostat probes).

Sorry this is the first answer you've had to your posts - seems a bit mean! Congrats anyway!

Jessica :)
 
I believe they hatched on day 57 but I would have to double check for sure. It's right around there. I have taken it easy on the adding water and the second clutch I have that should pip any day is doing fine. The moss looks a little dry but the eggs appear healthy. I had to add a few more holes in mine becuase I think I was retaining to much humidity and ending up with bloated looking eggs. Thanks for the response.
Mark
 
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