Box turtle eggs still not hatching

kobobird

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My three eggs have been in the incubator for 77 days now and no one has hatched yet. The incubator was set at 86 degrees (I meant to set it to 82 and just realized 2 months later that I never did) and all eggs look great. No mold, rotten smell, or indentations. Am I just overreacting? These are my first ever turtle eggs and am extremely excited and praying they still hatch. All help is appreciated!
 

PJay

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At 77 days they are pretty far along for having been incubated at 86 F. Have you tried candling the eggs to see if there are developing turtles inside? Hold a small, really bright flashlight right up against the eggshell and see if you can see any shadows, blood vessels, air pockets, etc. Be careful not to drop the egg! Even the most experienced people have dropped an egg or two with disastrous results.
 

kobobird

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At 77 days they are pretty far along for having been incubated at 86 F. Have you tried candling the eggs to see if there are developing turtles inside? Hold a small, really bright flashlight right up against the eggshell and see if you can see any shadows, blood vessels, air pockets, etc. Be careful not to drop the egg! Even the most experienced people have dropped an egg or two with disastrous results.
I just candled them and two are reddish with what looks to be veins and I saw what looks like an air pocket in one of them while the third one is a yellow color and seems infertile
 

PJay

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My rule of thumb is to let them cook until they they mold and stink. Red coloration and veins is a good sign of healthy development. I would reduce he temps to 82 F and use a spray bottle with distilled water to moisten the substrate around the eggs twice a day. They might be dry because of the higher temps while they incubated. Continue candling every couple of days and look closely for pipping in the shells. They may need some assistance in the form of scrapping away the hard outer layer of the shell so they can more easily emerge through the soft membrane by themselves.
 

Tjsalyers

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My three eggs have been in the incubator for 77 days now and no one has hatched yet. The incubator was set at 86 degrees (I meant to set it to 82 and just realized 2 months later that I never did) and all eggs look great. No mold, rotten smell, or indentations. Am I just overreacting? These are my first ever turtle eggs and am extremely excited and praying they still hatch. All help is appreciated!
Hope they hath It could be up to 100 days for them to hatch
 

PJay

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I'm curious to hear if there are any changes in the eggs. If your incubator thermostat is accurate, at 86 F you should have had some pipping at 55-60 days. Do you keep a thermometer in the incubator with the eggs to verify if the thermostat is working right?
 

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