Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i see that people cut their eggs open to i guess assist the little ones in hatching. what is the earliest you can sefely cut open an agg and have the baby survive. i have a clutch that i am watching and the eggswere odd from the begining. the looked dented and shriveled from day one. they had the look that the get when they are ready to hatch. i do know they are fertile because i candled them and saw the little guys moving around inside . the veins arent strong looking but they are present. i dont know how healthy the babies are and if they will be strong enough to come out on their own. they are close to being due but just thought i might give them a hand. so again what is the most days out you would cut an egg.i prefer to wait till full term but i was curious.

Once one pips, we snip the rest just a small hole usually. On my most recent clutch though, like your eggs they caved early and mine were on the smaller side and I was quite worried so once the first one pipped yesterday we slit the rest enough that we could gently touch them. They all moved so we were satisfied with that and now to wait for them to emerge on their own. One of ours in particular had a fairly hardened shell and was the smallest egg, don't know if the little one would have made it out on its own.
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Nita Hamilton
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Ball Pythons
ballpythonworld.com

How long has it been? What temps? I just had a clutch of 7 hatch. I generally do not manually pip the eggs unless they go beyond 60 days. Most of mine start around day 56.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

Yes, I would say DEFINATLY wait until at least one of them pips. The last thing you want is to cut them too soon. I just witnessed a horrible event where a friend of mine had a burm clutch (a small clutch, just a few eggs)...it was a couple days after their "due date" and someone suggested she cut the eggs. Well, after doing so, it became apparent that the snakes definatly needed more time to develope...and they eventually perished (she also cut off way to much...didn't just slit it like one should). I have a feeling that her inconsistant temps slowed down their development. Either way, shame on the breeder for telling her to cut the eggs without telling her how to and asking her questions about the situation first, and shame on her for not as much research as she should have on her own. The whole situation makes me crazy...and I myself before then had never read up on breeding, pipping, etc, as my snakes are purely pets and I never had intentions of breeding.

Heh...so yeah, I'd wait until one of them pips.
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- JENN ROSE -
www.jennrose.com

0.1.0 classic corn~ "Pumpkin"
1.0.0 leucistic texas ratsnake~ "Worm"

I waited till the first head was out and cut all...no problems!

Paul

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www.nydistortion.com
www.thenyxl.com
I breed ball pythons bearded dragons and play paintball!
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