It happens, condensation forms on the underside of the lid or wrap covering the egg container when humidity becomes a little too much. And when it becomes too heavy it drops onto the eggs and you got wet eggs with the possibility of losing them....

Smaller drops can usually just be removed by wiping them with tissue paper or paper towel, no big deal, but when you get a major area of the egg getting wet, enough to kill it, just wiping it won't be enough.

I have used foot powder or atheletes foot powder and applied it to the surface of the egg in the center that got wet. You can see the dark area, which is about a third of the surface. In this case wiping isn't enough.... condensation drops will form on that area of the egg each day if not treated with the powder and continue to weaken the egg surface. The problem of excessive humidity that was caused by a hot spot in the incubator has been fixed.

This clutch is 12 days old, and that egg was treated about 6 days ago and looks good. It stopped the condensation drops from forming. I'm certain it would of gone bad or be well on the way to death by now it the powder wasn't used. So hopefully it makes it and goes full term. We'll see if further applications are needed as time elapses.

Good luck with the egg

Good luck with the egg

Thanks!

Does anyone else have any proven techniques for wet eggs?

Thanks for the 'how to' Sput :yes:

I have never really had this problem so I have no advice but what you posted it pretty darn good! :cheers:

I had one last year that was victim of water droplets..foot powder solved the problem for me. I believe when my egg was on day 21.

Let me guess which one is mine if my boy was daddy...:lmao:

Good write up man!

Let me guess which one is mine if my boy was daddy...:lmao:

Good write up man!

Do you really even need to guess.... :lmao:

I do the foot powder thing like you described. I reapply it once a week to keep the mold away. Before I reapply it though I use a Q-tip and brush away the old caked-on foot powder that's on the egg. Once it's weakened it will always have a little bit of condensation on it which will make the foot powder gummy and caked on the bad spot. Wiping it off before reapplying seems to work good at keeping it somewhat dry and mold free.

I do the foot powder thing like you described. I reapply it once a week to keep the mold away. Before I reapply it though I use a Q-tip and brush away the old caked-on foot powder that's on the egg. Once it's weakened it will always have a little bit of condensation on it which will make the foot powder gummy and caked on the bad spot. Wiping it off seems to work good at keeping it dry and mold free.

Good to know, I figured I'd be re-applying it every 10 days, but I'll keep a close eye on it and do the once a week thing.

Haven't had it happen yet, but I'll file that away in the back of my head for future reference. Hope that egg holds up for you, good luck.

Thanks!

Does anyone else have any proven techniques for wet eggs?

I use good ole Elmer's Glue. I figure if it is safe for a Kindergartner to eat it, it can't be too harmful for a snake egg. I clean the area of the egg that is moldy, wet, or just plain strange looking and then I put a drop or two of glue on my fingertip. I then smear the glue on the spot, and let the glue extend about 1/4" past the spot. I lightly blow on it to dry the glue a bit and place the egg back in the container. I did this to about 12 eggs or so last year, and never had to reapply it. Iguess it acts very similar to the barrier that formed from the Liquid-BandAid that we used to use, but when you couldn't find that anymore, we looked for something that would form some type of barrier.

I hope that helps,

I use good ole Elmer's Glue. I figure if it is safe for a Kindergartner to eat it, it can't be too harmful for a snake egg. I clean the area of the egg that is moldy, wet, or just plain strange looking and then I put a drop or two of glue on my fingertip. I then smear the glue on the spot, and let the glue extend about 1/4" past the spot. I lightly blow on it to dry the glue a bit and place the egg back in the container. I did this to about 12 eggs or so last year, and never had to reapply it. Iguess it acts very similar to the barrier that formed from the Liquid-BandAid that we used to use, but when you couldn't find that anymore, we looked for something that would form some type of barrier.

I hope that helps,

Cool.... I knew someone was using a child safe glue, I just couldn't remember who it was. Now that you mentioned it, I remember hearing about it on Reptile Radio during a show with you. :cheers:

Hey whats the update with the eggs? How are they doing? Close to hatching?

Some nice ideas here guys.

Dan

Hadn't though about the glue. I'll keep that one filed away as well.

Thanks for the great tips.

Thanks for the great tips.

That's what the forums are for :yes:

good thread

Nice info..

The clutch hatched out fine - the eggs only required two powder treatments during the incubation period.

The clutch hatched out fine - the eggs only required two powder treatments during the incubation period.

man... good thing i didn't recommend you just toss 'em out !
good work sput !
ck

this is awesome info. Thanks.

I know this thread is in the BP advanced section, but I have a Woma egg that developed a water spot - even after sitting in an almost completely dry egg box. These things happen - can't explain it. Anyways, a few times a day I'd check on it and the spot kept getting larger. I followed the steps that Tim shared with the elmers glue and it seems to be working. The spot hasn't gotten any bigger in about 2 weeks and the egg looks fine.

Glue.........very creative.Thanks for the tip!

......and off I go to take care of my woma egg!!! Thanks, guys!

Cool.... I knew someone was using a child safe glue, I just couldn't remember who it was. Now that you mentioned it, I remember hearing about it on Reptile Radio during a show with you. :cheers:

Just remember to take your fingers off the egg before the glue dries Sput. :lol:

Thanks for the tips :yes:

I had an egg go bad from my first clutch this season :( and looks like one from my second clutch, hopefully I got the power on this one soon enough to save it.

Just remember to take your fingers off the egg before the glue dries Sput. :lol:

I have a jigsaw if it gets stuck.... :lol:

I have a clutch incubating now where 2 of the eggs developed wet spots. I called Tracy at VPI and she told me to remove the eggs and the light grate I have them on, dry everything off with paper towels, add about half an inch of dry perlite onto the substrate, and then put everything back in. Well sure enough it worked and now one egg has completely gone back to normal and the other is 95% there and improving. They never developed mold and should hatch in a few weeks! Thanks Tracy for the great tip! :cheers:


Tracy also said that possibly the reason they sometimes develop spots early on is that when they sit in the tub for a while they can cool off a bit and then once you move them to the warm, moist environment of the incubator it can cause condensation to form on the egg.

I wish I read this, I had lost 4 out of 6 eggs due to them getting too wet as you described. I did add the foot powder, several times, but they still died, but the whole egg was wet not just a section. One did recover. I was having issues with the whole clutch. they got wet on like day 7-10.

At least I know of the elmers glue trick now. thankx for the tips!

How exactly does the condensation kill the egg? I had previously assumed that it inhibited the exchange of gases to the point that the baby snake inside just suffocated. Now reading that the water apparently weakens the egg I am questioning that assumption.

I wish I read this, I had lost 4 out of 6 eggs due to them getting too wet as you described. I did add the foot powder, several times, but they still died, but the whole egg was wet not just a section. One did recover. I was having issues with the whole clutch. they got wet on like day 7-10.

At least I know of the elmers glue trick now. thankx for the tips!

Hope you got that problem fixed.... sounds like an excessive amount of humidity was the cause.

How exactly does the condensation kill the egg? I had previously assumed that it inhibited the exchange of gases to the point that the baby snake inside just suffocated. Now reading that the water apparently weakens the egg I am questioning that assumption.

I think an egg that gets wet enough to die just no longer has the ability to breath right. So the exchange of gases can no longer take place.... you could liken the affect of the water as clogging up the pores on the eggs surface, which kills the embryo or formed animal inside.... depending on what stage the eggs are at.

If not enough to do that, it can cause mold to grow which will take over the egg if not addressed.

I think an egg that gets wet enough to die just no longer has the ability to breath right. So the exchange of gases can no longer take place.... you could liken the affect of the water as clogging up the pores on the eggs surface, which kills the embryo or formed animal inside.... depending on what stage the eggs are at.

If not enough to do that, it can cause mold to grow which will take over the egg if not addressed.

Thanks!

I have used foot powder many times and it seems to be pretty reliable but you still need to check them daily to scrape and reapply. Now I am wanting to pick up a bottle of glue and try that instead. In the past I have also used a liquid bandage with no luck. I do not remember the brand (some may work Im not for sure) but when applied it absorbed into the egg and actually made things worse. Due to the high humidity it did not really harden and the egg died shortly thereafter. Furthermore it had a powerful odor and I think it was probably full of chemicals that cannot be good.

Last season I mixed my own substrate and had about 10 or 12 eggs that were having issues. I think I had too much water in the mix. This year I am using hatch-rite and I love it! Out of 49 eggs so far I had 2 go bad from the same clutch. The eggs looked a little weak and were from a young mice eating spider. I think due to her weird eating habits and only wanting mice she simply didn't have enough in her to build up the egg walls up and they went bad. I currently have one egg from a much larger female that is getting condensation and i am using powder. So things are much better and I dont have to wipe down the lids as much. You might want to think about giving that a try.

So anyways thats my input. Good luck with your eggs this season!

I have used foot powder many times and it seems to be pretty reliable but you still need to check them daily to scrape and reapply. Now I am wanting to pick up a bottle of glue and try that instead. In the past I have also used a liquid bandage with no luck. I do not remember the brand (some may work Im not for sure) but when applied it absorbed into the egg and actually made things worse. Due to the high humidity it did not really harden and the egg died shortly thereafter. Furthermore it had a powerful odor and I think it was probably full of chemicals that cannot be good.

Last season I mixed my own substrate and had about 10 or 12 eggs that were having issues. I think I had too much water in the mix. This year I am using hatch-rite and I love it! Out of 49 eggs so far I had 2 go bad from the same clutch. The eggs looked a little weak and were from a young mice eating spider. I think due to her weird eating habits and only wanting mice she simply didn't have enough in her to build up the egg walls up and they went bad. I currently have one egg from a much larger female that is getting condensation and i am using powder. So things are much better and I dont have to wipe down the lids as much. You might want to think about giving that a try.

So anyways thats my input. Good luck with your eggs this season!

It sounds like you have too much humidity, I applied foot powder twice during incubation. Mainly because I didn't do it quite right the first time, I never had to check them daily or scrape them down and re-apply daily.... it sounds like you have a big humidity problem if your having to do that daily or your mix is too moist to start with.

Mouse eating bps produce good clutches, it was most likely some other reason. Judging by what you said about having to treat your eggs daily it could of been an incubation related problem. :dunno:

IMO substrate is a carry over of early reptile breeders attempting to "mimic" mother nature.

Dump the substrate = increased hatch rate

i have also used liquid bandaid with great results,

best wishes, Kyle