Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've heard that the hatchling season of 2010 being referred to as the "Year of the Twin" on a few forums.
My question to you is this: are two heads in one egg really a good thing?
For those of you who have hatched twins in '09 or earlier; (no offense, but I'm not interested in those who hatched twins this season).
With the obvious smaller size of twin hatchlings, how many really survive to 'yearlingdom' or on into adulthood? Have you found that their diminutive size has put them at a disadvantage developmentally or that they can, and do indeed, catch up and thrive as their larger clutchmates.

My personal experience has been less than positive; twin female het clowns in 2009 that weighed in at 24g & 27g respectively.
Both shed a week after leaving their egg, with one refusing to eat.
She passed at 2.5 weeks of age.
The second female ate well, but never really caught up.
She passed at 9 weeks of age.

This season, I have an egg in my incubator right now that hit on what I was hoping for; a triple morph combo (I had a 50% chance of hitting it, but with only two good eggs...) that pipped yesterday.
Twins; both exhibit the triple gene combo.
Only time will tell, but with my previous experience, I am not optimistic.
Your experience with twins would be interesting to hear.
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www.strictlyballs.ca

We've hatched a fair number of twins over the years, they've all been somewhat difficult to get going but never had one die on us, most had to be assist fed for a while before eating on their own. We've kept a few and now could not tell which one was a twin...

As for your question; are two heads in one egg really a good thing? I'd say no, given the choice, I'd rather not have twins and get the extra work load required to get them going BUT we don't get to make that call...

Heres a 19 gr out of the egg, twin Black Pastel with her big twin sister at 6 months old...

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www.regiusco.com

I don't really want twins , ever....I had my first twins IN ball pythons this year....they died...I cut the egg but it was off color a little...didn't come out....next day pulled it....NICE Pin....wait...2 NICE pins....2 good eggs from a 20 pound female (joking) she laid like 7? with 2 good, the twins were dead...so I got 1 normal from her./....wow...$15 from a 20 pound female....so....are BIGGER girls better...not always are twins better...not always....LOL....(she used to lay 12 good all the time,she's going this year>>>....

,.....a guy used to tell me he'd prefer 14 smaller hatchlings than 7 big ones...(from one girl).....I'd take the bigger ones???..(and still hope for 14!)......same idea...

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........JY.......

We had three sets of twins in one clutch of chocolates last year, and all of them made it just fine. In the same clutch though, we did have a snake that developed completely inside out. Cut the egg open, saw the head....and then the beating heart, and the lung...and all the other gooey stuff. Pretty crazy stuff. Never had that many twins in one clutch before, but if I can get 11 good babies out of only 7 or 8 eggs...I'll take those odds. They were all fine and eating within a couple weeks. We bred the same pair again this year, so we'll see what comes out.

I hatched twin females in early 07. I started breeding one of them Oct. 09 at around 1500gm....I considered the other one still a little thin, but she was close to big enough also. That was eating once a week and they almost never turn down food. The mother also feeds that way and I have seen some correlation of feeding habits between mother and babies.
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Dale....dgoins222@yahoo.com
www.LibertyReptiles.com