Looking for opinions on a clutch of 7 ball python eggs. Some are plump and bright white, while several are noticeably wrinkled/dimpled and a little cream-colored, the dimpled one were kicked from the 3 plump ones. I’m not sure exactly how long they sat before I found them but I believe I found them the same day they were laid and positive no more than 2-3 days. They’re now incubating at 88°F and ~98% humidity. I purchased this female 3-4 months back and have not paired her, this is a surprise clutch and previous owner paired beginning of 2025 with the male I also purchased and planned on pairing her with, so I’m really praying these eggs are viable.
I’ve candled twice and all 7 eggs have visible embryos with bright, branching veins. I don’t plan on checking them again for around 10 more days.
-Do the wrinkled eggs look concerning or fairly normal?
-Have you had wrinkled eggs like these hatch successfully?
-If eggs were 1–3 days old before discovery, would strong veins still be expected?
-How long does it usually take for a non-viable egg to show obvious signs of failure?
-Based on the photos, what would your confidence be in this clutch?
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Even if they were found a few days after being laid theres a high chance that they are perfectly fine, Ball Pythons materially incubate their eggs naturally for the entire duration that the eggs are incubating. As long as the females enclosure temps were where they are supposed to be at the time of laying the eggs should be fine.
The wrinkled appearance on the eggs is from a more extreme lack of calcification, causing weaker surface points across the egg and thus causing the shell to wrinkle. This normally only appears in a few spaces- not all over the egg and may be a sign that the female who laid may be lacking in nutrients, like calcium.
If you say you saw embryos and veins in all 7 eggs then they are all viable.
However if they are to fail and the baby dies at any point, the most obvious and unmistakable sign is a foul rotten odor, and it will start to smell not long after failure. The egg may become slimy to the touch, it may grow mold (even good eggs can grow mold so don’t give up immediately if this is the only sign), it may start to discolor…
I’ve never had wrinkly eggs laid in my clutches personally so far… but I have seen wrinkly eggs hatch, they may need more humidity though because once they start denting in later in incubation they may really start to dent…
I’m fairly confident- I’ve seen way worse off eggs make it full term and the babies come out perfectly fine. You have to stick by “incubate until there’s no debate”.
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