Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,
It was a small clutch this year, but I was very happy to open the incubator this morning and see a little head poking out of one of the eggs. These were laid in the first week of July, so they're right around the 80 day mark. The other egg has a rather disturbing bulge in it... any idea what that might be? I'm guessing maybe it's just due to the pressure inside the egg pushing against a poorly calcified spot in the shell, or maybe even twins? Should I leave it alone or try to open it up?

Thanks,
Nate

Not a clue about the bulge, but congrats on the pipping.
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Danielle

Herps:
2.1 BRBs
1.0 Black Milksnake
1.0 Amel Motley Corn
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Other critters:
1.0 Great Dane
1.0 Siamese
1 Senegal Parrot
1 Blue Fronted Amazon

Thanks, congrats on your little guy, too! I'll get some pics up here and on LJ once they're both hatched... I think I'm going to cut the other egg open when I get home from work.

Nate

Thanks He's really neat.

Looking very forward to more pics.
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Danielle

Herps:
2.1 BRBs
1.0 Black Milksnake
1.0 Amel Motley Corn
----------------------
Other critters:
1.0 Great Dane
1.0 Siamese
1 Senegal Parrot
1 Blue Fronted Amazon

Leave it alone!........it's not that uncommon to see some weird swelling in eggs now and then......sometimes they do this when a little too much moisture is absorbed, and like you stated...it swells to the path of least resistance, which is usually in the middle, as in the case with your egg.

It should hatch out soon.

congrats!!

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

Maybe you're right... I'll leave it alone for a couple days, at least. Still, I wonder if this guy (these guys?) might have lived if I'd cut them out of the egg when the others started pipping.

Nate

Generally speaking, if they are healthy and not deformed they will make their way out of the egg no problem You may have some twins, ya never know! Personally I have cut eggs before with no problems but I prefer to leave them to hatch by themselves
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globalreptiles.ca

Many "two-headed" snakes, as well as other defects look like they might be okay from the outside, but many of these genetic defects have other problems that go along with the defective trait(s), and nature simply aborts them.....they just weren't meant to be.

I've had some Honduran eggs that were kept at optimal humidity and temps, went full-term, and I later slit the eggs only to find that some of neonate's were dead, and their skin was connected to every turn of their bodies!!,.....sort of like the "paper dolls" that people cut out of paper, and when you unfold it, their all connected!

It was pretty sick looking,.....beside that, they looked great!
Some things just aren't meant to be.

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

Point taken, "Oscar" (as in Oscar Zeta Acosta... too weird to live, too rare to die) may very well have been unfit for survival. I was able to preserve the body and donated it to Van Wallach, the two-headed snake expert at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology. Apparently only about 5% of two-headed snakes live for more than a day or two, but he does have a very cool live two-headed eastern found right here in Maine, which I got to handle when I went to visit this past spring. I'm still hoping for a viable two-headed monster of my own, but the normal ones are great, too... this little guy crawled right out of his egg and into my lap this evening, and was calm enough to pose for pictures... gotta love that gaigeae temperament.

Nate

Good deal!,...I'm glad to hear you donated the snake to a good cause!.......and yeah, Blacks are cool!

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

after the second day I would slit the top of the egg very carefully.

I use a very nice pair of cuticle scissors (see below) and they work very well for me. Be careful to not puncture down into the egg but almost tangent to the egg's surface, with the point of the scissors.

Once you give the neonate a little window you can let it stay in the egg and take it's time to fully emerge on it's own...verses having the neonate being unable to slit the egg by itself.

If you haven't done this before I would NOT recommend you try it now.

-RG

Congrats Nate! I never get sick of seeing those little noses poking through.

Dave

DNS Reptiles - Updated

Glad to see some black milks, finally!

Don't cut the egg. I've never had one good outcome when cutting the egg. Usually it's a hatchling that nature did not intend to make it.

Maybe you're right, we'll see what happens over the next couple of days... and congrats on that albino clutch, by the way!