B.vagans eggsack pulled too early

[Crunchie]

Hi all my female B.vagans laid an eggsack 27 days ago. I pulled it last night and though most of the eggs look fine there are a few bad ones and a few that have tried up.

I have the eggs in a container which I'll try and describe...

One of the smallest "petpal" type cages with damp kitchen roll in the bottom.

The eggs are held on a thin layer of cloth stretched over the top of the pet pal but pushed down far enough so the thing can be enclosed. The cloth is held in place by an elastic band around the edges of the pet pal.

There is a mini heat mat under the pet pal.

There is a plastic lid across the top with no ventilation.

Anyway I've kept the eggs in the sack but should I tip them out onto the cloth? I cannot get to the bad ones otherwise I don't think.

 

[Talkenlate04]

First turn off that heat. Heat is a killer. Second if you want, try my method of incubation. Here are some pics. This will allow you to pick out the bad eggs and prevent them from spoiling the whole sac. Once you have the eggs in this setup place the whole thing back in your T room. Or at least try and keep the temps in the high 70's. Twice a day pick up each container and give it a swirling motion. This will rotate all of the eggs evenly. Once they pop out to eggs with legs all you have to do it's watch and wait till it's time to separate.

 

[Crunchie]

Hi there, thanks for the advice. I'll maybe leave the eggs in their sack until tomorrow night (day 28) before trying what you suggest. The eggs seem to be OK after 24 hours in the incubator I made though I still have them in the sack which I am turning every couple of hours.

Regarding the heat I live in central Scotland and it's not the best of summers here. There is no additional heating to my room which is where all the spiders live. I have the heat mat covering 1/4th of the petpal. Should I really turn it off? It's measuring 72 at the cool end of my corn snakes tank.

 

[Talkenlate04]

All that low 70's will do is slow down the development. I just worry that you have a heat source so close to the eggs even if it’s at the bottom of the tank thing you have set up. You should take some pictures. I am surprised you don't have eggs with legs by now. At around day 20 is when I had eggs with legs with my last Vagans sac. Hopefully everything works ok great and you get tons of slings!

 

[Crunchie]

There's nothing much i can do about the low 70's, that's just the temperatures from my part of the world. I've tried to do as you've suggested though I've only used one little tub in the larger one. I'll take some photos in a mo.

 

[Crunchie]

This is what I now have them set up in. The fabric the eggs are on is try and is contained in a round, lidless plastic tub. the kitchen roll under this is damp.

 

[Talkenlate04]

That looks just fine, only one thing though, you need to add some holes to the bottem of that tub you are using for the cover.
Are those eggs? Or eggs with legs? Looks good so far, just keep an eye out for bad eggs and remove them as you see them.

 

[Crunchie]

Just eggs but they all seem to be turning black. That's the last time I let anyone talk me into taking an eggsack away from the mother before I think it's ready.

 

[Talkenlate04]

Thats an indication that the sac was not fertile. There would have been nothing you could have done anyway.

 

[Crunchie]

Thats an indication that the sac was not fertile. There would have been nothing you could have done anyway.

Would the eggs have not rotted sooner then? This is day 27. I'd have thought if it was infertile they'd all have came out looking black.

 

[Talkenlate04]

Would the eggs have not rotted sooner then? This is day 27. I'd have thought if it was infertile they'd all have came out looking black.

The time frame of when they would go bad varies. In the sac they are shielded from things that would speed up the process so who knows. Infertile eggs can stay looking like normal eggs for quite some time I emptied a sac once at day 40 and they had no development of any kind. Shortly after that they started to go bad. But fertile eggs won't do that.

But on a side note for future reference, don't use another heat source like that. And you have to have ventilation. You can see in my pics there are holes in the lid that covers the container that has the eggs in it. Your first thread stated you had them in a setup with no ventilation that can also quickly kill living things. And from the looks of your pictures the humidity coupled with the heat you added might have snuffed the life out of them if they were indeed fertile. But since they are going black so quickly I don't think that is to blame I really do think they were infertile.

 

[Crunchie]

But on a side note for future reference, don't use another heat source like that. And you have to have ventilation. You can see in my pics there are holes in the lid that covers the container that has the eggs in it. Your first thread stated you had them in a setup with no ventilation that can also quickly kill living things. And from the looks of your pictures the humidity coupled with the heat you added might have snuffed the life out of them if they were indeed fertile. But since they are going black so quickly I don't think that is to blame I really do think they were infertile.

Wish someone had told me this before. I only put them in today so that is probably what did it. Last breeding attempt for me I think, this is just all too heartbreaking to watch.

 

[Talkenlate04]

It's all happened to me at one time or another it's all a learning experience. So long as you take a different route next time and learn from what happened, there should be no reason to not try again. These failures here and there make success that much more important and special when it happens. Don't give up! If everyone gave up on their first try we would not have CB slings of anything really.