Egg Emergency!!!! Help!

[crocsnhots]

ok ok please excuse my frantic post I am pretty scared and excited at the same time.... ok....... *takes deep breath*

I bought a snow corn a few months ago, an adult female. She seemed a little underweight to me so i wasn't going to breed her this year, I opened the lid today and she's sitting around a clutch of eggs!!!!!!! She was kept with a male before I got her I wasn't expecting eggs!! I don't have an incubator, and I dont want them to die, what do I do?? I didn't wanna even consider breeding her until I had an incubator! Ok so someone please tell me what I should do with them, they look good, nice and white. HELP!

[Vanan]

Get some vermiculite from your local garden centre. Mix a batch with water, grabs handfuls and squeeze out as much water as you can (until it forms a clump). Get any container and place this "squeeze dried" vermiculite in it. About an inch and a half or so in depth. Half bury the eggs in it. Close lid and leave on highest shelf or cupboard in house. Check occasionally to see if eggs are dimpling (add water) or getting too wet (wipe excess moisture of the inner side of lid). To go a step further, get a digital thermometer ($11-15 from WalMart) and place the probe end into the box. As long as the temps don't go much lower than 67F you're pretty safe. Corn eggs have been hatched at that temps. Better cooler than too warm. Good luck!

[crocsnhots]

Thanks so much for your response!!
ok, I sent my father out to get some perlite as i was told or vermiculite if they're out, and a heating pad to keep them at a proper temp. i have sphagum moss but was told not to use it. The temp in my room is 80 right now but it fluctuates and i dont want to risk them without heat.

This is how I was told and have decided to incubate them:
get a rubbermaid place in a few bricks to support the container the eggs are in. fill the rubbermaid with water to a few cms below the top of the brick. add in a thermometer and hygrometer. keep the humidty at 100% and the temp between 80 and 85. place eggs on damp perlite and set the egg container into the large rubbermaid. add a heating pad underneath to keep temps and humidity up.

Does that all sound ok?
Why do I need to wipe excess moisture off the lid? is it ok on the sides?

The eggs are a little dimpled right now, will the dimples go away now that they are in a more humid environment?

Theres 2 bad eggs, what should i do? the eggs are all stuck together so i dont know what to do as I heard they could hurt the good eggs.

i used my mini keychain flashlight to candle what ones were easiest to see and almost all have veins. Theres about 15, they're so tiny and I cant wait to see what hatches out!!

[Removed_2815]

Originally posted by crocsnhots
i used my mini keychain flashlight to candle what ones were easiest to see and almost all have veins. Theres about 15, they're so tiny and I cant wait to see what hatches out!!

Be very careful while candling....
Do not manipulate the eggs any more than is necessary. The only interaction you should have with the eggs is to transfer them into the incubation medium. Make sure that they are in the same orientation as when they were laid. People have ruined entire clutches of eggs by manipulating them too much and separating the vascularised membranes inside.
Good luck.
Ryan

[Vanan]

I wouldn't recommend placing a heat pad underneath for heat. Not reliable. I would go with room temperature. Safer and way much lower chance of killing your eggs. Ultimately what's most important is minimal fluctuation in temps.

Perlite can be trickier as in getting the right amount of dampness. Perlite doesn't retains water as well too. If you do use perlite, I would recommend checking the inner part of the lid for moisture and wipe it off. You could drown your eggs if the droplets get on your eggs. What you want is just enough humidity where your eggs aren't dimpling (they will, expectedly, dimple during the last few days before hatching though) but there's no moisture directly on your eggs, either from condensation or too moist of a substrate.

Sphagnum moss as a medium, is debatable for some species. I have found that using a thin layer of sphagnum to cover the eggs keeps mould at bay due to the acidity of the moss. Some people worry about the acidity thinning the shell of the eggs but I've found dramatic differences between a clutch covered with sphagnum and one which wasn't.

Don't worry about bad eggs too much. More harm can be done removing them. If a good egg is good, it will not get mouldy.

[crocsnhots]

Thanks Vanan & RMBolton. The eggs are set up There's about 15!

RMBolton, I didnt move the eggs when I candled them, just put the light near them, the light is about as big around as a pen and about 3 inches long so its easy to get the light near the eggs without moving or touching them. the ones I couldnt candle without moving I didnt candle.

Vanan, my father came home with perlite, boy does that stuff ever stick to your hands when damp.

but I've found dramatic differences between a clutch covered with sphagnum and one which wasn't.

What kind of difference?
Should I add a thin layer of moss over them then?
How much are we talking about?
It just so happens I had a brand new unopen bag sittin on my herp supplies rack.

What if I put some type of slanted dome type structure over the eggs, so that any condensed water would run down the sides, would that work?

Thanks for all your concerns, suggestions and help, I sure hope I get to see lil corns in a couple months.

[Vanan]

If you've got some moss handy I don't see why it would hurt to try a thin layer. Many people have had successful clutches without though but I've found that the moss covered clutch had less, if not no, mould on them. The uncovered clutch had a teeny bit on the sides. But like I said before, a good egg shouldn't mould easily.