Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It's been over 100 days since my corn laid her eggs, they started to mold this week and smell so we opened the last of the eggs one looked amel, the others Anerythristic. They looked full sized atleast for hatchlings, no physical deformaties, etc. However the eggs were very tough, wondering if maybe they couldn't break through. They were kept around 82 degress and moist...
One of the Anerythristic's had actually clamped down on his/her lower body and severed itself inhalf... weird! Why would this happen? I feel so terrible that none of them survived, like I did something wrong and prehapes I did, so please no flaming. Just wondering if anyone could give me some insight.

First, don't blame yourself. You are doing the correct thing and trying to figure out what happened so you can change it next time. It is very possible that they couldn't break out of the shell. It is also possible that they just might not have been strong enough to survive.
I had a similiar experience last year with african fat-tails. Eggs went full term, and didn't hatch. When they were cut open, there was a full term baby inside. The only thing that I can figure is that the eggs had too much calcium and the babies couldn't get out. So far this year, I have not had a problem so maybe my idea was correct, maybe not. Unfortunatly, I don't know much about corn incubation to help you with that part. All I can tell you is that this kind of thing happens to everybody at some point. Don't blame yourself, but use it as a learning experience.

Like stated in the previous message..."Don't blame yourself.". Unfortunately we all have learned from experience and that is the key...WE LEARNED. Fortunately my wife and I have several herp breeder friends that have done this longer than we have.
My first advice would be to attain a copy of Bill and Kathy Love's book "The Corn Snake Manual". This book covers a lot of material beneficial to first time herpers as well as old timers. It covers housing and feeding to breeding and incubation as well as genetics.
If I am not mistaken the book says that the standard incubation period is "around" 70 days. Don't quote me on that(buy the book). I do know for a fact that at 84 degress most of our clutches hatch in about 73 days. We have had the occasional reluctant neonate that we have had to clip the egg for them allowing them to pip. That is only if they have gone longer than the rest of the clutch.
After buying the book my next suggestion would be that if the eggs are kept at a constant 82-84 degrees after 80-85 days I would go ahead and clip a small hole in the eggs. After that wait about 24-48 hours to see if any of the neonates pip their little heads out. A lot of times they will remain inside the egg with only their noses showing until they feel safe to come out. If after 48 hours you have seen nothing then I would cut the eggs open and see if you have any living neonates.
Remember this forum is always here and there are a lot of prefessional breeders that will take the time to answer serious inquiries like yours if you email them directly through their websites.
I hope this helps you and don't heitate to ask more questions in the future. Please don't take this the wrong way because I am very sorry for your loss but better luck next time. Especially since you now have the knowledge to beat this.

Sincerely,
Mike Pinkston