Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have some bp eggs due to hatch 5/10/07 will be there 55th day in the incubator if they dont hatch should i pip them so they dont die? or leave them alone so they can pip it them selfs??i dont wanna pip it and they be under developed i can see them moving around in the egg when i candle them how do i know when i have have to help them?
please help with any input
thanks,
chris
topeka kansas USA

First off, relax. I'm betting you'll have babies any day now (Mine usually start to pip after about 56-58 days). While its true that some babies may ocasionally need help getting out of the egg, that is VERY rare. This is what I would reccomend: Wait until the first egg pips...after the first egg has pipped, allow the rest 24-36 hours to pip themselves. After 36 hours, you can manually pip them. I'm not sold that you ever really need to go that route though. I've used the method I described above since I started doing this, and most of the time, even on the eggs I pip myself, the babies still end up making their own slit wherever they choose. Good luck...

exactly what I do.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

Yeah...you and I usually see eye to eye on most issues. As far as the eggs go, I made a commitment after my first clutch years ago to simply leave them alone. I think you can only screw things up the more you mess with them. A couple of years ago I was even able to leave town for a weeks vacation with an incubator full of eggs.

Now my first clutch was a different stroy...I was in the incbator every day. Inpecting the eggs, checking the dampness of my substrate, making sure everything was going well, checking the eggs, showing off the eggs, making sure the probe was in the right place, checking on the eggs, checking for condensation, checking the eggs, etc. You think there is any correlation between my interaction and the fact that 2 eggs died early, 2 eggs died late, and two of the babies had slight phsical deformities? Since I've gone to Ron Popiel's "set it and forget it" mentality, I've probably hatched 99.5% of my fertile eggs. Eggs are tougher than we think, and generally don't need our help.

I remember my first clutch - ahh, the panic, the fear, the anticipation, the stress...

I agree, set and forget - helps me sleep at night.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

Probably wouldn't hurt at 55 days, but I like to wait til the first one "pips", then cut them open!

Great advice