Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My second clutch of the season started pipping yesterday afternoon. 3 were poking their heads out, so I cut the other 4 to see what was in them. Ended up with 1 cinny out of 7. My last clutch was 4 out of 5 cinnies. That's alright though, because really you can't expect more than 50/50. So I was 5 for 12. Got home today and checked on them. The cinny was half way out of it's egg, dead. Very skinny, no yolk absorbed, umbilical attached and thick. Why did it start leaving the egg without absorbing any yolk? Anyone ever seen this happen before? Am I learning a lesson for cutting? It was a good looking cinny too. When something good happens, you can always expect something bad as well. And vice versa. Oh well. What can I do? Next clutch is coming in another week.

Your not learning a lesson about cutting. Your learning a lessen about PRE SELLING!
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http://www.jasballpythons.com./

I didn't even consider that. I totally believe in karma. That's why I have it tattooed on my arm. It'll get ya every time, so it needs to be kept clean. I think pre-selling is tacky as hell too, but I just moved into a new place and was short for a new rack to put the babies in, so I said "eff it". I'll sell 1 or 2 earlier than I should.

Don't beat yourself up too badly about it.

Do you find that a dehumidifier in the damp basement zaps the moisture & heats it well too?

Hope you have *locks* on all the windows down there!! Basement security kinda freaks me out. I've heard stories of landlords that were suspected of stealing basement "goodies". Not cool.

Btw, what kind of rack were you shopping for?

I've been pricing dehumidifiers the last week or so. I definitely need one. But the ones I'm seeing in retail places are over capacity for what I need, and in turn, overpriced. I found a few ideal ones on Ebay, but haven't gotten around to ordering one yet. Between recently moving, kids, wife, work, school, babies hatching, etc. It seems like weeks go by as days. My basement window seems to be stuck shut, not painted, just stuck. And my landlord just moved to L.A. and I'm now in the great first state of Delaware, so I don't think he'll be showing up anytime soon. (Delaware sucks, by the way. I'm moving back to PA as soon as my lease is up.) And I always buy Animal Plastics products. I need a 7/14 shelf baby/juvenile rack, I believe it is. And a 4 shelf adult rack. I need to order those tomorrow when I get paid, unless you have some other suggestion?

Can't help you w the racks, but why don't you look & post on craigslist for a dehumidifier. I nab em for $20 at yard sales or CL. Good luck.

I always forget about Craigslist. I'll do that. Thanks a lot man. I appreciate it.

this happened to me as well.

I kept adding water to the corners during incubation because of some denting in the eggs, and it just so happened that the eggs on the outside of the clutch made it fine, but the ones in the middle of the tub did not. When was all said and done, I took the eggs out and felt that the substrate was completely dry in the middle.
Im guessing (in my case, and maybe yours?)that since the substrate under the egg had gotten dry, it made it impossible for the yolk to be absorbed by the babies.

It was a really sad site to see - i will be fiddling with my incubation method to have a better outcome this upcoming year. My problem (and this is how we learn) is that I had the flexwatt directly underneath the tub instead of a strip of flexwatt heating the incubator as a whole.

I used the no substrate method and the perlite was saturated all the time. Sucks that happened to you though. You're right though, you need the temps to be consistent all around. Not just in one spot. Good luck next time.

Ryan, that kind of sucks man! Overall not bad odds, but for one clutch...pretty lousy. Sorry about the one that did not make it. I had a snake last year, a very NICE one, that came out of the egg way underweight, and it turned out to be a partly calcified egg, and the snake ended up not making it. Bummed me out, it never shed or fed on its own! Nature can be cruel sometimes, and Kharma can bite you hard!

Dave

Ryan, I don't think it has anything to do with cutting. My last clutch this year pipped completely on their own...just 2 heads, the other 3 didn't pip until a day later. I came home from work that same day and found one of the early pipped babies laying almost completely out of his egg, dead, with 1/4 of his yolk unabsorbed and a very thick cord. I can't figure out what happened. The remaining eggs all hatched just fine?
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

Strange. In nature, only the strong survive. I guess that's just how it goes sometimes. It's just really disheartening that the only cinny in the clutch had to be the weak one. On the bright side, there are some really light, interesting looking normals in this clutch. Maybe I'll have better luck and they'll turn out to be females. My son and daughter want one of the babies to put in their rooms. I'm planning on hooking them up with a couple of the nicer baby females that hatch, so at least when they lose interest in them, I can use them as breeders My other daughter wants a rabbit for her room. That's not gonna happen. Have the whole house stinking. On the other hand, at least when she loses interest, I could feed it to my retic. Haha.

I just don't see a need in cutting eggs. Over the years (many, many, many years) I have hatched out thousands of reptile eggs.
I let nature take it's cource. I've seen and heard to many horror stories of people not having patiance, cutting eggs at 55 days, 50 days, 45 days. That's nuts.
I won't metion any names....... but I have a friend that lost a complete clutch because he just couldn't wait for the babies to hatch on their own. With in two days, all five babies (in a five egg clutch) had died. Fully deveopled, fully formed, but he believes he cut to deep, cutting the blood vessels in the eggs.
For me, the only reason I would even suggest cutting an egg, is: You have a clutch, and maybe one egg hasn't hatched after all the others have, one, two days later, I gently pick it up, and tear the outer shed. Look for movement, and if I do see movement, I place it back down. If not, then I complete the opening, and look inside. Some babies are just a little slower in hatching then others.
ANOTHER experinmet I did, I took an egg from one clutch that was about five days from hatching, and put it into a clutch that was hatching. It to began to hatch. I BELIEVE, the movement of the other hatchlings caused this baby to also want to hatch.
It came out completely on it's own. I was going to try that again this year, and kind of forgot about it, until I started writing this post.
I like to exeperiment with my animals. Try to learn from them.
No harm, but to see what exactly is going on, so much to learn....
In closing.... Put the sissors away! Let the babies hatch when they feel they are ready to.
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Ron Billingsley
www.ronbillingsleyreptiles.com

I agree let them do their own thing i mean cutting the eggs is just adding another thing that could possibly go wrong. Im not hating on people that cut their eggs its just my opinion.
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B Sleeper

1.0 Chocolate Lab
0.1 ?? Normal Ball python (yet different)
1.0 04 Het Albino
1.1 06 Het Albino
1.1 06 Het Pied
1.0 06 Pastel
0.? 07 Pos Het Albino (Momma has not laid the eggs yet)

I am going to put the scissors away. This is enough. I have no idea why that baby left its egg WAY before it was ready, but if I hadn't cut it, it definitely wouldn't have left. I really can't deny that I played some role in it not surviving. Live and learn, and I always have to learn the hard way. He/she would have been a really nice Cinnamon too. You have to expect setbacks. Hopefully this will be my worst one for this season. I have 3 clutches/18 eggs to go.

When babies start pipping they release a horomone or enzyme that is recognized by those still in the egg. It is believed that this does stimulate babies to hatch.
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Thanks,
Amy
www.myboids.4t.com
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1.14 Normal ball pythons
1.0 Pastel ball pythons
0.0.1 Sinaloan Milk Snake
0.0.1 Plains Garter
0.1 Normal Kenyan Sand Boa
2.0 Anery Kenyan Sand Boa
1.0 Mid-Baja Rosy Boa
0.1 Leucistic Texas Rat
1.2 Dumeril's Boa
1.2 BCI
That's Just The Snakes!