Uh oh! Bugs on eggs!?!

[JeffT]

Well I opened up the incubator today to check on all my eggs and i noticed there was little tiny tiny bugs crawling around on a couple eggs. They were about a millimetre long and grey. What should I do?

Any suggestions will really help.

[Zoe]

i had a few little flying black flies (fruit flies?) around my eggs. I guess they liked the sphagnum moss that was in the incubator. Anyway, I just laid out some honey on a jar lid in the incubator and they all got in there. Seemed to work.

Zoe

[JeffT]

Alright, thanks i'll do that right now. But im a little concerner these could be mites or some kind of parasite. If so, what kind of damage coudl they do?

[Zoe]

fraid i cant help you there... are they eating through the eggs' shells?

[JeffT]

I really dont know. Everynow and then when I check on the eggs I will see one scamper across the egg.

pull the eggs and rinse them and replace the substrate with something sterile, or toss hat you have into the microwave for 3-4 minutes to kill everything in it and put the eggs back in after it cools back down. I had ants get into some of mine this year but I killed them off real quick

[Dave G]

I had much smaller ones on my lampropeltis eggs. I first discovered them from their tracks on the humidified surface of the delicups.. looks like a microsnail had gotten lost... I then used an 8X film loop to examine the mites on the eggs.. I consulted a very experienced herper who told me they were likely just grain mites and nothing to worry about... I then consulted "The Reproductive Husbandry of Pythons and Boas" by Ross and Marzec. Which told me that "small mites sometimes refered to as 'egg mites' by herptoculturists may be present. Egg mites are harmless and attempting to remove or eradicate them is not recommended.."

I went as far as to wipe the lid and edges of the delicups and left them...they hatched fine.. I transfered the hatchlings into their rubbermaids, and have yet to see any mites on the snakes . And I have been looking..

(disclaimer) lol
These may or may not be the same mites.. and is merely an account of my experience/research alone, take from it what you will ...
Good Luck
Dave G

[JeffT]

Thanks, well I washed the eggs in warm water and then nuked to soil in the mirco ave and put the eggs back in and I havn'y seen one yet. Thanks!

Jeff