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I had 2 remaining eastern milk snake eggs from july 25th and today, i was making a routine check on the eggs and accidently cracked one open in the process!! Sooooooo mad. It looked almost fully developed though, the baby snake was about 5 inches long, blue eyes, and the body was pink with the faint markings of the future snakes skin. I am soooo mad i put so much effort into these. Now with the remaining one, assuming it also would be in the 5 inch long, pink stage, how much longer until it hatches?

>>I had 2 remaining eastern milk snake eggs from july 25th and today, i was making a routine check on the eggs and accidently cracked one open in the process!! Sooooooo mad. It looked almost fully developed though, the baby snake was about 5 inches long, blue eyes, and the body was pink with the faint markings of the future snakes skin. I am soooo mad i put so much effort into these. Now with the remaining one, assuming it also would be in the 5 inch long, pink stage, how much longer until it hatches?

Cito, everyone (including me) is gonna wanna know how you "cracked" one open, since snake eggs are leathery and not like chicken eggs that crack. I can't imgine how you'd accidentally open one...wanna tell us more? What do your routine checks include?

As to hatching, five inches could be close to term so far as size goes, though the other baby will likely hatch considerably larger. More to the point, July 25 to aug 21 = 27 days. Eggs GENERALLY hatch in 55-70 days depending on incubation temp--maybe mid 80s for the shorter term, upper 70s for the longer incubation periods. Generally speaking, again, once you get eggs, there's not much you need to do with them except set them aside and not worry about them (plus, of course, make sure temps are maintained adequately, which can be done without even opening the egg container, and making sure adequate humidity is maintained, which can also be observed just by looking from the outside of the container, if it's clear or nearly so. dthe only reason to open them up--to HAVE to open them up--is if you are keeping them in airtight containers, to keep bugs away. In that case you might want to open the container every second to third day & fan in some fresh air, then re-seal.

Hopefully that'll help avoid future accidents. But do tell us how that egg cracked, ok? maybe you can help someone else avoid the same disappointment. thanks.

terry

my routine checks include going into the container and rubbing the mold off of the dead eggs. They were laid in a clump of 6, 2 were alive, 4 were slugs, the slugs were covered in mold so once every 2 days i did my best to rub the mold off of the dead eggs becuase it was beginning to spread to the good ones. This was working for about a week, until today, when i accidently punctured one of the good eggs and liquid started pouring out. Should i just let the mold go onto the good eggs? would they survive?

np

i had to leave the dead ones there because theyre bonded with the live ones and if i tried seperating them, it would rip open the live one.

>>np

actually, n.p., i think a lot of us do it that way, and for the same reason cito cites. Moreover, his accident highlights the peril of bothering to separate eggs when there may be no need to do so.

the logic i've heard expressed is that bad eggs will mold, good eggs won't. Coulnd't prove it by me but i do know that when i leave a clutch intact, with some bad (and moldy) eggs, other eggs don't mold and hatch healthy, beautiful babies. Seems to sustain the prevailing logic.

Also, it's fairly common practice to put foot anti-fungus powder (i.e., Desenex) on a moldy egg if you feel compelled to eliminate the fungus from the clutch. I do that only VERY conservatively, figuring a) it's not necessary (see the logic above) and b) for all i know the powder could hurt the good eggs. I mean, Desenex is NOT a substance eggs are likely to encounter in the wild!

peace
terry

In the future. I don't remove moldy eggs. In my experience viable eggs are not affected by moldy eggs. Maybe if there was only 1 fertile egg in a large clutch the mold could overwhelm it, in that case I would carefully cut away as many of the moldy eggs as possible without touching the good egg.
If an egg springs a leak it can be patched with a piece if toilet paper. I have hatched eggs this way that had sprung a leak up to 2 weeks before hatching.
The 2 reasons I have seen for leaks is thin shells and too much water in the incubation medium. Giving the female about 1/2cc of human quality liquid calcium w/D3 before hibernation and another 1/2cc after hibernation. You can find it at health food stores. Inject the supplement into a prekilled prey item NOT into the snake. Do not overdose as this can lead to too thick shells that the babies can't hatch out of.
Too much water in the incubation medium causes the eggs to swell and burst. For most kings and milks you don't need the 1:1 vermiculite:water ratio often reccommended. Usually 2-3 parts vermiculite to 1 part water is enough.