some of Sunny's eggs have gone moldy :-(

[carmallarm]

I just checked Sunny's eggs in the incubator, and 12 of the original 16 have succumbed to mold. I'm trying not to get too disappointed, since I am a beginner, and the eggs weren't planned, and I should have prepared myself for not all of the eggs making it to term... etc., etc. But it's still kinda sad to have such a large chunk of the clutch go so quickly.

I put the moldy ones in the freezer, and am going to transfer the remaining 4 to a container with clean Pearlite. I took almost all of the water out of the Hovabator. I had only filled the A-section, which is the smallest one, with water, but I guess it was still too humid in there for the eggs. I was trying to only open the incubator once a week so I wouldn't disturb the eggs, but I guess I'm going to have to start checking them more often so I can catch the mold before it spreads to the other eggs.

I hope I at least get one or two babies from this clutch... I was so looking forward to little baby Beardies Oh, well. At least both Sunny and Draco are healthy. The eggs are a fantastic project, but my adult BDs are still my priority. As long as they're doing well, I'll try not to get too depressed about the eggs.

 

[ilovebeardeddragons]

sorry to hear that but its kinda good that was you dont have like 20 babys to take care of you know? then next time you can get a lil better(not trying to be mean by saying that) what was the humitity? and im not sure but maybe when the eggs die they get moldy and sence you were opening them so much the died just curius why do you open them once a week? and im not trying to be mean by any of this im just trying ot help incase you decide to plan a clutch so it doesnt happen again

 

[carmallarm]

what was the humitity?

Yeah, I feel pretty terrible about the eggs molding, even though I followed all the directions down to the T. But, then again, the directions for the incubator were for chicken eggs, and BD eggs probably need different humidity. All the info I could find online about humidity for BD eggs was "not too humid and not too dry". I wasn't able to find any actual numbers.

I didn't measure the humidity when the eggs molded, all I knew was that I only filled the A section of the plastic tray @ the bottom of the Hova-Bator. I do have a spare hygrometer, but I got too depressed to use it when I saw how many of the eggs had molded. I just poured out all the water from the A-section and used a small glass bowl instead (with a much smaller surface area), which seems to be working pretty well for now.

...its kinda good that was you dont have like 20 babys to take care of you know? then next time you can get a lil better

I guess it's better to start with only a couple of babies the first time through, that way I can better prepare for a larger clutch size, and any first-time mistakes can be made with a smaller group of animals.

...when the eggs die they get moldy and sence you were opening them so much the died just curius why do you open them once a week?

I'm pretty sure that 14 of the original 16 eggs were fertile, since they all had pink spots on top, and when I saw that they were moldy, most of them had already begun to develop veins inside the shell. :-( That's how I know that the majority of the eggs that had molded were fertile, which makes me sad.

I left the incubator closed for the entire first week, and was just checking in quickly to see how all the eggs were doing. I guess it's a good thing I checked when I did, otherwise I probably would have lost the entire clutch. I've separated the remaining 4 eggs into their own containers, and I changed the Pearlite at the same time. I don't open the incubator every day, just once a week or once every week and a half to take a quick peek and make sure that they're doing okay. The containers I use have opaque lids, so I can't see much from the windows in the incubator. Is it really so bad to open the incubator so often? I only ever have it open for 5 minutes each time at the most.

 

[ilovebeardeddragons]

'Is it really so bad to open the incubator so often? I only ever have it open for 5 minutes each time at the most."

it might be it might be "disrupting them" im not sure though

 

[Poisoned1]

I can't say exactly why they got moldy as I haven't bred and neither has ilovebeardeddragons.

But looking once a week will not hurt them and like you said you were doing a quick peak. Hopefully someone can be more informative though.

 

[carmallarm]

I've had a hygrometer in the incubator for about a week now, and the humidity seems to stay be pretty consistent between 65% and 70% humidity. Is this okay?

The 3 remaining eggs are still looking healthy, btw.

 

[BIGDBREEDER]

im not an expert but from what i have heard if eggs go moldy shortly after they are in the incubator they are infertile..I have heard do not hold me to that..aslong as the eggs are plump and not denting i wouldnt see why your humidity would be bad..im running into the problem of getting to high..mine temp is at 83.5 and the humidity is at 85 i took half the water out and still..its all in trial and error..just dont give up you will get it soon enough pce

 

[carmallarm]

I sort of wish that I knew the humidity levels when the eggs went moldy originally, but I was too disappointed to check then. In any case, ~70% seems to be a good level for the eggs. No more eggs have become moldy, and none are dimpling, so I think we're doing okay now.

btw, why do ppl say that eggs that go moldy are infertile? Most of Sunny's eggs were definitely fertile, and almost the entire batch became moldy. I think it must have more to do with mold spores and high humidity than fertility of the eggs, though it would make sense that the ones that were infertile would begin to rot soon after being hatched.

 

[john_ny217]

my incubators were a steady 86 degrees and the humidity levels were about 80% sometimes higher through out the entire time in the incubator and i had a 100% hatch rate with all 3 clutches which totaled over 60 eggs.

 

[carmallarm]

hmmm... If BD eggs weren't so hard to come by, I might consider doing an experiment to find out under what conditions the eggs are more likely to mold. It would be nice to have some hard data on the subject.

 

[BIGDBREEDER]

i do believe people say that because a developing embeiro would sustain the eggs nerishments which in return wouldnt cause it to mold.there are other reason eggs mold and i wasnt saying that they are infertile.but if they mold right after u put them into the incubater they most likely are infertile

 

[Akeath]

FYI, if these eggs mold too, they might still hatch healthy babies anyway. Just gently rub the mold off and hope for the best next time.

 

[Stephies_Leo _Dragon]

It shouldn't hurt to open the incubator once a week to let fresh air in. Are the eggs in a sealed container or unsealed? I use a sealed container and I like to open the container once a week and let some fresh air in and if it is sealed you can check for condensation on the lid that will tell you your perlite is too wet. Thier should only be condensation below the line of the perlite. Good luck!