Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Balls, here is a question.

I had one egg, good egg, large, that hatched with a small baby Ball, and inside the egg was a large "mass"....any thoughts, could the small baby have been a twin....? This is the baby.

Dave

Interesting, I had a tiny little runt hatch out at half the size of his clutch mates and there was a mass in that egg. Never considered it could have been a twin.
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Nita Hamilton
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Ball Pythons
ballpythonworld.com

Dave - I haven't hatched out thousands but - I hatched out a small pastel this season that had a mass in the egg - it was pretty much the same as the mass that came out of the eggs that the incubator fried - so I assumed it was also a bit of overcooked yolk.

The little guy came out at 52 grams at 62 days (the smallest one that I've hatched) and had a neat jungley pattern to him which I attributed to egg stress.
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

I talked to someone last night, who said it was probably calcified egg yolk. That would explain why the baby is so small...let me go weigh him/her....be right back.....40 grams. I guess that is not HORRIBLY small, but the average weight of the other babies is about 70 grams. I hope it thrives, I love the look!

Dave

It happens with alot of the eggs that are kept at the higher incubator temps. Drop your incubator temps a few degrees and ad a couple of days of incubation and you will see bigger healthier babies and far less dried yolks I incubate all my eggs at 85-87.5. Since dropping to the lower temps I have not experienced this again.

Hope this helps.

Mike

I incubate at 89.0-90.0, usually the reading is 89.3-89.6 degrees. This is the second one in two years, but the rest are about 70-90 grams and look fine.

Dave

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