>1. Kinked spines most often occur when eggs are incubated at a steady temperature, then a spike in the incubation temperature happens (even if only for a day or two). I have bred "kinked" snakes and had babies come out normal, so I don't think it's genetic.



Do you think that the kinking requires just the temperature spike or the temperature spike after a prolonged period of constant temperature? If the second, then perhaps a daily incubation temperature cycle (as in "stick the eggs in a warm place and leave them alone" ) is superior to a constant incubation temperature.



FWIW, I think that nutrition should go on the list of possible causes of birth defects in hatchlings. Breeders, especially the females, need better nutrition than nonbreeders. And poor nutrition is known to produce low reproductive success and birth defects in a variety of domesticated vertebrates, from trout to cows and chickens.



I don't think that anyone has commented on the eye defects. Just to stir the pot, years ago I saw a young Indian python with one missing and one normal eye. I've also seen a litter of timber rattlesnakes where the babies had eyes of different sizes, from normal to half normal. To the best of my knowledge, those timbers were from a wild breeding. I have also read that turtles sometimes have similar congenital eye defects.



Paul Hollander

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