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This blackrat egg has been pulling apart for 2-3 weeks now and the inner membrane is bulging like an inner tube!It is from a blackrat and the rest of the clutch looks good.If a hatchling comes from this egg it's got to be a giant.The wife is betting there are twins in it.

Never seen an egg do that. I am curious as to why you marked the eggs.... I hope it is just a precaution and that you are not turning eggs. Turning an egg can be fatal.
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0.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"
0.0.1 MO Locale Black Ratsnake "Molly" (Flogging Molly)

As we say in Missouri, "I ain't goin back to Missouri!"

Yes,these are the only eggs I ever marked like that.I have always been lucky enough to be at home when any of my snakes layed.On the day this female layed,she had 13 out when I came home from work and was moving them with her body when I took the lid of the laying box.So I opted to mark the top sides and wait till she finished.

First two pippers from this clutch this morning at 47 days incubation!

Really interesting and it still looks viable.
Keep us posted on how it turns out.

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Regards, Bill McGighan

Mike,

Yes, I have eggs do that all of the time. Never pythons. Only colubrids. I don't know why they do it, but maybe it has something to do with the diet of the mom. Anyway, I have a 50/50 record of getting them to hatch ok. What usually happens is the carrion flies (tiny, knat-like flies) end up eating through and devouring the insides of the egg....baby and all. Last year, I had a black rat egg that actually BROKE a couple weeks before it was due to hatch. I placed it inside a brown paper bag with wet mulch and sealed the bag well. I opened it evry few days to get air exchange. Sure enough, just as the bag was breaking down, covered with fungus from being so wet, the lil baby hatched out and was 100% fine. I don't think you will get twins, but it is possible. Keep us posted.

Dewey

Thanks for the advise Dewey.I'm going to just leave it alone and see what developes.The first from this clutch is out and it is a very robust baby for a blackrat.Dang near a bullsnake sized hatchling.Three more are pipped,but not the bulging egg yet.These are from a nice sized female I found in mid summer(not the one I posted pics of a while back),but one I chose for a future mate for the big male I have.
I hatched some het. for albino babys a few years ago and those babys were only half the size of whats hatching now.If hatchling size is any indicator,these should get big!Will post a pic when all are out.

I can't sat I've ever seen that before! If you don't have twins in there,It'll probably be a baby "Huey"! lol.... Jeff