Reptile & Amphibian Forums

These guys began hatching out yesterday....

~ Mike Russo

Caramels and butters...? Hard for me to say before a shed. But they look nice regardless!
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-David Harrison-
.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"
.1 Ball Python "Rocky Ballboa" (Didn't name her!)

"Have you ever tried simply turning off the T.V., sitting down with your kids... and hitting them?"

Mom (top pic) is an Ultra Amber... Dad (below)is a Gold Dust..

~ Mike

Wow-that female is incredible. I may have to move that morph up to my "second favorite" position (behind the Okeetee at #1-a position not likely ever to be usurped )

Brad Chambers

nice looking snakes.Hey, I couldnt help but notice that the slits in those eggs are all about the same. Do you assist?
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****Misty****

www.sneakyserpents.com

"I try to take one day at a time but sometimes several days attack me at once"

Yes i do assist..

Last year i lost several alterna hatchlings that were fully formed in thier eggs.. So, this year i am not taking any chances.. After the first few pop on thier own i take any eggs that are stuck together and pull them apart and cut them..

So far so good!

~ Mike Russo

This is not meant to question you. But just a question For you.
I have found that the dome heads mean the snake is not fully formed. I think (although I dont have any research) that the heads are the last part of the snake that forms. Could those babies just not been ready yet? It does not appear that they are rotting/decomposing at all. Maybe they were just taking longer.
I had lost some snakes in the egg from one clutch. They had the domed head, but you could tell they had started to decompose a little in the egg. I think it more likely they died before they could fully form. I had been fighting mold really bad and some gnats. I think I over did the listerine a bit.
I had another snake who I assisted cutting the egg. It has a dome head. I think this snake just wasn't ready to hatch. The umbilical cord was still intact (red with bloodflow). I realized this snake had been incubated at a little lower temp and probably could have gone a few extra days.
These are just my observations. And I am far from an expert. The one domed head baby will not stop me from assist cutting. I will just make sure I have all the bases covered.

What are your thoughts?
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****Misty****

www.sneakyserpents.com

"I try to take one day at a time but sometimes several days attack me at once"

It's actually a very good question Misty.. And, I have also done NO research.. So, I really don't have a good answer for you.

I do know that the 5 Alterna you are refering to did have dome heads and they were all 100% dead when I cut the eggs open.. Meaning, more time in the eggs would not have made a difference in this case.. As stated earlier the other 5 hatchlings from the same clutch cut their way out of their eggs and hatched out perfectly?? Remember, all of the eggs looked good, were about the same size, & incubation conditions were exactly the same for all 10 eggs!

Also, last year I had several other hatchlings dead in the eggs without the dome head issue?? Last year was certainly my worst year yet for losing perfectly good hatchlings!

So, this year with the amount of eggs I have cooking I decided to just cut all of my eggs once a few from the clutch begin to pip.. Figuring that if some pip and they are all being incubated in the same box/incubator the others should be ready to go as well.

So far this year I have only had one hatchling not make it out of the egg alive.. Interestingly enough it was a corn that pipped itself and was poking its nose out of the egg & when I checked on her later it seemed to have gotten stuck in the egg under the placenta?? Which is a new one for me..

I think this is a very good topic and one that I would certainly like to learn more about!

Regards,

~ Mike Russo

That is very odd.
The dome head thing is something I'd like to see more research on. But then again, there are a lot of topics when it comes to snakes, that need more research.

another topic that needs more research....
I also got 3 kinked babies this year. They came from a second clutch from a snake that had no kinks in the first clutch. They were all incubated in the same incubator, so same conditions, like you pointed out. The other half of the clutch was fine, all the previous clutches and ones since have been fine also. Truly odd.

Sorry to hear about your luck with the babies dying. Glad to hear this year was better. This year has been my worst year, but I have not been doing this very long.
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****Misty****

www.sneakyserpents.com

"I try to take one day at a time but sometimes several days attack me at once"

Mike, to me, the babies appear to be a butter and a golddust or ultra amber? but I guess the lighter one is a golddust and the darker one is an ultra-amber? or is it visa versa. Certainly, the one on the left sure looks like the golddust mots I have hatched out, and I would think the ultraambers would be even darker at hatching? So which is which? and can you post some more pics? thanks, Brad Lichtenhan