URGENT!

[HugeGenes&LoLa]

Hey guys,

Need some help pretty quickly. Incubating 80 for 51 days, and for the last 7 days we've raised the temp by 1 degree. So the temp is currently 87, and it's day 58.

One of our eggs started developing a small patch of mold on the top, and today there is a bead of moisture on the top of the egg. It looks slightly discolored, maybe yolk? Or it could also be sweat. As of today, the egg started denting (not sure of exact time).

I'm concerned the baby may have pipped, and is having trouble getting out... how long should we wait before assisting? If, however, it is just sweat, could we potentially harm the baby by cutting it out a day early?

I just don't want the little girl to drown in there Any help GREATLY appreciated.

 

[got spots?]

Okay first I want to say I am not a breeder of any kind. Though I have seen someone cut open just slightly a ball python egg. To do this they pinched part of the egg slightly and cut it open. For mold I have heard of using athlete foot powder but I also heard it could harm the eggs.

 

[lillith]

This is what I would do:

Separate the moldy egg from the other eggs, if you can, and change out all of your substrate. It would be best to set up new incubating containers with new substrate in the incubator overnight to avoid temperature shock. Get a qtip and carefully wipe the moldy area off of the egg, being careful not to contaminate any other area of the egg with the qtip. Use several if you have to. I have heard of using athlete's powder, but not yet tried it myself. I believe you would dab on a small amount to the affected area only with a fresh qtip. Since your egg is so far along, I doubt a small amount of foot powder would hurt at this point. If the egg is visibly pipped, I wouldn't put it anywhere near the opened/pipped area.

I normally wouldn't advocate handling or moving eggs, but last year I lost several clutches to mold, I was only able to save the last two by switching out everyone's substrate and keeping each clutch in its own separate container. I used half-pint gladware.

I wish you the best of luck and hope everyone makes it out in good health!

 

[HugeGenes&LoLa]

Well, nothing but ooze. It may have developed for a week or two. At least we didn't kill it by pipping I suppose.

 

[robin]

Okay first I want to say I am not a breeder of any kind. Though I have seen someone cut open just slightly a ball python egg. To do this they pinched part of the egg slightly and cut it open. For mold I have heard of using athlete foot powder but I also heard it could harm the eggs.

pipping python eggs and slitting open a gecko egg is very different and for different reasons

 

[lillith]

oh drat. I've had that happen. It's disheartening...at this point, watch your other eggs for mold...you could switch the substrate to reduce the risk, but unless you see active mold, or smell spores, I would leave them be their last few days...I have seen beads of moisture a few days before mold officially takes over that is NOT sweat, so keep an eye out for that, too...if you see that, substrate change and isolate that egg.

 

[snowgyre]

Robin, can you explain why some python breeders pip their eggs? It's a practice that always baffled me.

 

[ILoveGeckos14]

ya I never understood that either!

 

[HugeGenes&LoLa]

Ok thanks lillith :-\ I just hope this other egg is good.

 

[acpart]

Just out of curiousity, why are you raising the temperature every day?

Aliza

 

[robin]

Robin, can you explain why some python breeders pip their eggs? It's a practice that always baffled me.

it minimizes the chance of the baby not making it out of the egg. gregg m. shows a great example of it in this thread http://geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=52265

 

[HugeGenes&LoLa]

Aliza-

We've read a lot about people raising temps for the last week of incubation to bring out more color (in females). Since sexing is established after a few weeks into incubation, this shouldn't hurt the baby geckos at all. Unfortunately for this last clutch, it seems they never made it past the first week of development We hope for better luck next season.

Hope that was helpful!

 

[acpart]

I kind of thought that was the reason, and doing it that way sounds safer than the other practice of raising the temp just after the sex is set. I hope you have better luck next time.

Aliza

 

[Vision Geckos]

Thanks... So do we

 

[mindgamer8907]

I'm trying to learn all I can, so might I ask (while we wait for an update on the other egg) if this raising temp by a degree at all on females would produce "hot" females (infertile)?

 

[Vision Geckos]

Update on the other egg: It too was infertile. It had begun denting on day 63, so we gave it a day or two, hoping if there was a gecko inside it would find its way out. A few days later, we decided to pip and nothing was inside. Just green and white goo. No embryos, nothing.

I'm trying to learn all I can, so might I ask (while we wait for an update on the other egg) if this raising temp by a degree at all on females would produce "hot" females (infertile)?

Interesting topic you raise. I cannot give you a definitive answer on that because I am unsure. If I could make an educated guess, I would say it would not affect their fertility because the temperature raising begins fairly later than it takes for the sex to lock in.

On a related note, there is still a good amount of debate in the gecko community as to if a formula for "hot" females and "cold" males actually exists, or rather if its just a random fluke. There are obviously infertile geckos out there, but no definitive proof that it's been caused directly by temperature variation. However, it's quite possible that temp fluctuations early on during incubation do have a positive correlation to infertility.

 

[Gregg M]

Hey guys,

Need some help pretty quickly. Incubating 80 for 51 days, and for the last 7 days we've raised the temp by 1 degree. So the temp is currently 87, and it's day 58.

Hey guys,
I would avoid doing this in the future... It has proven to lower hatch rates and to induce premature hatching... This is something I strongly advise against...

Temp sexing is not 100% and honestly, you will always get more females at any temperature you incubate at... This is just the way it is... In just about every species, there are always more females...

In all my years of incubating, I have never gotten a 50/50 male to female ratio and I have never been male heavy... There are always more females hatched even at "male temperatures"...

I'm trying to learn all I can, so might I ask (while we wait for an update on the other egg) if this raising temp by a degree at all on females would produce "hot" females (infertile)?

I have grown many females that came from the "male incubator" to maturity that grew up to be very fertile and very good breeders... Not sure if there is any merit to this theory that "hot females" are infertile...

 

[HugeGenes&LoLa]

Oh okay thanks Gregg! We had just read from some other people that it helps brighten colors for females, but if you think it's a bad idea then we appreciate the advice

 

[Gregg M]

Honestly guys, with the genetics of your animals I have seen and the look of them, you do not need to brighten them up with incubation temp fluctuations...

 

[herpman97]

Actually, temps can affect the darkness or lightness in a gecko, that's how chocolate albinos are made. I read it from Ron Tremper's "The Herpetoculture of Leopard Geckos"