This is my first time incubating eggs. I was unaware that my snakes had lock tails I looked up one day and I had a small clutch. This day 5 I believe i messed up. First picture is day 1 and the second picture is day 5.these are the only materials I have to incubate I’m keeping heat level between 88-90 it says it’s 99% humidity inside I know it probably to big inside for such a small clutch. I have the outside wrapped in trash bags to keep out air and keep In humidity
There is no way that setup will hold the humidity you need unless you’ve got a lid on the smaller container the eggs are in. Even then, there’s not really enough space to properly lid that and still have good air circulation without a deeper container. Idk, they might be too far gone, but you can try putting a damp (not wet) paper towel over them and see if they plump back up.
Yeah we need to know a bit more on what is going on.
Are the containers sealed inside?
What IS the box you’re heating them in?
Are they just sitting on top of a mesh lid for a tank with a heat lamp?
If they are just sitting on the mom’s lid as shown with the light, I agree with @noodlehaus. There’s no way there’s enough humidity being held in there. Especially with the way a lamp heats it up. Which can also be an extreme fire hazard with how this is set up.
They may be reading at 99% humidity, but if they’re sitting directly on wet vermiculite the bottoms of the eggs can mold out while the tops dry. The top most egg looks like it would be the most salvageable, but even then it’s a far shot.
It should be pretty easy to find a cooler box, a Tupperware to seal the eggs in fully and a heat pad or heat tape. The thermostat is the hardest thing to find in a hurry.
First, welcome to the community.
I could not get my incubator balance in time for my first ball python eggs year last year, so I just used racks.
Its cheep and worked fine for 7/8 clutches with 100% success, except one clutch that had the right humidity but almost zero air flow.
I didn’t realise that tub had no ventilation holes.because it was in a place I was not planning to use.
Babies developed but mold was too much.
This might mean nothing but your set up seems to have little air flow.
Just an idea as im kind of new too. But I think, even with closed systems, breeders open the incubator to check or remove hatched ones or slugs or just check which replaces air in the incubator reducing CO2 and other gas and spor build up.
A bit controversial I maybe but worth a thought.
Unless you were using a tub for the eggs that seals and locks tight, that shouldn’t have been too much of a problem. Quite a few breeders put cling plastic over the tops of the eggs and use a tub with no airholes, I used the same method to incubate eggs last year. There’s very little airflow needed at the first stages and usually the shoebox lids are just shy of tight enough to cut off all airflow
Depending on how the eggs were situated and if one had been bad that could change it quickly tho.
Did you have the eggs on a light diffuser? Keeping the eggs on one makes sure the eggs can only used the ambient humidity and not swell up too much or rot underneath. If they were directly on the substrate they may have had access to too much water and if one egg went bad, the mold can overtake the whole tub very quickly that way.
Otherwise may have just been bad luck.
I’ve incubated a couple eggs without an incubator as well, but it was usually at a time of year where ambient temps worked just fine and they didn’t need more than what the highest point in my office could give them.
Yes one when moldy first and then another, others developed into snakes with a bit of mold but did not hatch.
I had a light defuser, no eggs touched wetness. I moved out moldy eggs into separate tubs until they started to smell then got rid of them. Maybe my mistake was moving the bad eggs into a separate container but keeping them in the same tub.
If that tub of vermiculite doesn’t have a lid, then there’s no way those eggs will survive if kept that way. Your thermometer/hygrometer is measuring the ambient humidity, yes, but in the entire incubation space. It’s so high because all of the moisture is evaporating into the air, including that in the eggs.
You’re going to need to take off the bag wrap because it’s not doing anything aside creating a fire hazard. Get a deeper small lidded tub/food storage container for the eggs and put a couple of small holes in it for air circulation. Fill partially with damp vermiculite (not wet) and put a piece of light diffuser on top if you can get it, then the eggs on top of that. If not, you can nestle them in the vermiculite but you’ll have to keep an eye on them to make sure they’re not too moist. Probe goes in the tub with the eggs. If they haven’t started to stink yet you might be able to salvage with the paper towel method, but it very likely might be too late. Be sure to keep an eye on the egg box to make sure the vermiculite doesn’t dry out and/or the eggs aren’t getting too wet. Sphagnum moss, dampened, can sometimes help mitigate molding if the vermiculite is problematic.
Best of luck to you, there’s a reason the saying is, “incubate until there’s no debate”, sometimes clutches can be resilient, so don’t give up until it’s clear they’re too far gone.
Also make sure the probe isn’t stuck into or touching the substrate because it’s reading the wetness/temp of the substrate and not the ambient air. The air may be a higher temp and definitely lower humidity.
Just let it stay dangling into the tub at the same level as the eggs inside
