Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I want to share what a big mistake I made so others will not let this happen.

Well I was getting ready to go to Daytona, I had a clutch of 8 eggs, from a possible het albino Anery breed to a DH for snow male from Terry Dunham. Since they were close to pipping I went ahead and cut the eggs. Just in case they would while I was away in Daytona. Well I was surprised to find 2 snows in the clutch, one Anery and 5 Het for Anery Tricolors.

Well I made the biggest mistake of not putting them in another container with holes for air circulation. When I got back to Denver Tuesday morning, I went to check on this clutch right away. What I saw before opening the container did not look good at all. Well 7 of the babies died I am guessing lack of air. Only one Female snow survived. All the babies had come out of the eggs and were fully formed and huge.

Here are some pictures of the lone surviver. The pictures just do not do it justice. It has a silver tone to it. These are after it's first shed. I am going to keep her for sure.

I blame myself for the mistake and the poor little 7 babies paid with their lives. Make sure to allow for air exchange after they have been cut or have pipped the eggs. This is my first snow ever. I was not expecting these snows at all.

Tom

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Thomas Sierra
1.1 Irian Jaya
1.1 Irian Jaya Het Granite
0.1 Irian Jaya Jaguar
1.1 Albino Ball Pythons
2.2 Ball Pythons Het For Albino
1.1 Ball Pythons Het Pied
1.0 Pastel Ball Python
0.2 Normal Female Ball Python
0.1 Pied Ball Python
Alb Honduran 1.3
Hypo Honduran 3.4
Anery Hondo 1.2
Tangerine Alb Hondo 2.4
DH Snow Hondo 2.0
Het Tang Alb Hondo 3.3
Het Pin Stripe Hypo 0.1
Triple Het Hondos 1.1
Het Hypo 2.2
Snows 2.1
Ghost 1.1

Hey Tom,

So sorry for your loss. I was just wondering...if you were not able to transfer them to a new container with holes, how come the old container did not have holes? When you're incubating the eggs, those containers with eggs being incubated should have had holes already anyway...right? If so, then maybe it was not lack of air that killed the other hatchlings?

Anyway, that snow is a miracle baby...and pretty too!
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RAY - "Laziness is nothing more than a habit of resting before getting tired!"

I don't use any holes in my egg bins... but I use the no substrate/egg crate method.... I find the perlite I use dries out quickly if I have any holes...
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globalreptiles.ca

Well, i do have holes, just a few. I'm always concerned about "suffocating" the embryos inside the eggs even if I open the containers once a week to "air out" the eggs. A few holes have never dried up the perlite/vermiculite medium. Besides, if they start pipping on a given day or night and you missed it and did not open the container for hours, then there's really a danger of suffocating those babies. Just my 2 cents...
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RAY - "Laziness is nothing more than a habit of resting before getting tired!"

Well now that I think about it my lids are certainly not air tight so there is a bit of air circulating in there. I do agree that if they are air tight there is definitely a good chance of suffocation as we see here in Tom's case...
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globalreptiles.ca

Hi, I do not use holes in the containers I use to incubate the eggs. Since I am always here I air them out every couple of days. It was a stupid oversight on my part that is all.

Thanks
Tom

>>Hey Tom,
>>
>>So sorry for your loss. I was just wondering...if you were not able to transfer them to a new container with holes, how come the old container did not have holes? When you're incubating the eggs, those containers with eggs being incubated should have had holes already anyway...right? If so, then maybe it was not lack of air that killed the other hatchlings?
>>
>>Anyway, that snow is a miracle baby...and pretty too!
>>-----
>>RAY - "Laziness is nothing more than a habit of resting before getting tired!"
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Thomas Sierra
1.1 Irian Jaya
1.1 Irian Jaya Het Granite
0.1 Irian Jaya Jaguar
1.1 Albino Ball Pythons
2.2 Ball Pythons Het For Albino
1.1 Ball Pythons Het Pied
1.0 Pastel Ball Python
0.2 Normal Female Ball Python
0.1 Pied Ball Python
Alb Honduran 1.3
Hypo Honduran 3.4
Anery Hondo 1.2
Tangerine Alb Hondo 2.4
DH Snow Hondo 2.0
Het Tang Alb Hondo 3.3
Het Pin Stripe Hypo 0.1
Triple Het Hondos 1.1
Het Hypo 2.2
Snows 2.1
Ghost 1.1

Damn Tom that is too bad man.... but sweet survivor... one is always better than none
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globalreptiles.ca

I know what you mean!!!! This female will always be my reminder to take extra steps to make sure the eggs will survive.

Thank you all for your comments. Just want to share so it does not happen to anybody at all!!.

Tom

>>Damn Tom that is too bad man.... but sweet survivor... one is always better than none
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>>globalreptiles.ca
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Thomas Sierra
1.1 Irian Jaya
1.1 Irian Jaya Het Granite
0.1 Irian Jaya Jaguar
1.1 Albino Ball Pythons
2.2 Ball Pythons Het For Albino
1.1 Ball Pythons Het Pied
1.0 Pastel Ball Python
0.2 Normal Female Ball Python
0.1 Pied Ball Python
Alb Honduran 1.3
Hypo Honduran 3.4
Anery Hondo 1.2
Tangerine Alb Hondo 2.4
DH Snow Hondo 2.0
Het Tang Alb Hondo 3.3
Het Pin Stripe Hypo 0.1
Triple Het Hondos 1.1
Het Hypo 2.2
Snows 2.1
Ghost 1.1

n/p.
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RAY - "Laziness is nothing more than a habit of resting before getting tired!"

My egg container is multi-functional(2' x 3') for all my eggs (sans BP's) so I'm forced to move them to a smaller shoe box container (upon pipping), before they move out and wreck havoc on my other eggs. I have over 50 shoeboxes with lots of holes in them for this purpose.
You should do the same over the winter when things are slow so this never happens again.
My "container" is big enough to sit a couple of shoeboxes "outside", but still remain in the warm area. It's a shame to hear this after waiting so long. The eggs shown here started to pip yesterday and were put in a smaller box two days ago, since they collasped so much. Nothing of note hatched so far as I can see.

Mike

That really sucks in a HUGE WAY!!!, I've done some similar stupid things and have put baby snakes in a deli cup that I ASSUMED had the typical holes punched in them!
I was lucky enough to have caught it before I killed it from stupidity!!!!.....after that little incident, I don't have any deli cups around the snake room that aren't already pre-punched with holes, or it would probably be just a matter of time before it DID happen.

hope this helps some folks avoid the avoidable as well.

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Sorry that happened Tom. It's really nice of you to share the story with us as most would not. It's posts like yours that really make these forums a great tool and could REALLY save another of us some heart ache.
It was nice to meet you in Daytona. Later, Randy Whittington

I was a pleasure meeting you also!. I know others would not had said a thing. For the thought of looking foolish, but I feel if I can help others why not. As for me things happen only one time. I will be more attentive in the future.

>>Sorry that happened Tom. It's really nice of you to share the story with us as most would not. It's posts like yours that really make these forums a great tool and could REALLY save another of us some heart ache.
>>It was nice to meet you in Daytona. Later, Randy Whittington
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Thomas Sierra
1.1 Irian Jaya
1.1 Irian Jaya Het Granite
0.1 Irian Jaya Jaguar
1.1 Albino Ball Pythons
2.2 Ball Pythons Het For Albino
1.1 Ball Pythons Het Pied
1.0 Pastel Ball Python
0.2 Normal Female Ball Python
0.1 Pied Ball Python
Alb Honduran 1.3
Hypo Honduran 3.4
Anery Hondo 1.2
Tangerine Alb Hondo 2.4
DH Snow Hondo 2.0
Het Tang Alb Hondo 3.3
Het Pin Stripe Hypo 0.1
Triple Het Hondos 1.1
Het Hypo 2.2
Snows 2.1
Ghost 1.1

That sucks, however I am sure someone here will learn from this.

Last night after some cleaning I held my little guy and he didn't want to be held and dropped him about 6'. I know in the wild they might fall from that far but not on concrete he looks ok but it still has me worried, tonight is feed night so lets hope he eats. He also defecated this morning so I think he is ok. I just see him falling in slow motion in my head and made a loud noise for such a small snake
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Jason A.
"Long time Herper, first year Breeder `07."