Reptile & Amphibian Forums

so a friend of mine found some snake eggs, we thought they were black racers so we cut one open to see how far along they were... so i got a sharp knife and gently started to cut at the egg, i opened it up to find a small yoke sack and a TWO headed black kingsnake!!!!! it has almost all its color and looks to only be about a week or so from hatching! i put a peace of electrical tape that is about 1/16 of an inch wide just to cover the slit, will it make it and hatch? i have been praying all day bc i really hope i didnt mess this guy up!! it would be soooo cool!
any help would be nice, and i know it was dumb but i just wanted to know if i would be home for there hatching!
jake
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1.1 v. griseus

>>so a friend of mine found some snake eggs, we thought they were black racers so we cut one open to see how far along they were... so i got a sharp knife and gently started to cut at the egg, i opened it up to find a small yoke sack and a TWO headed black kingsnake!!!!! it has almost all its color and looks to only be about a week or so from hatching! i put a peace of electrical tape that is about 1/16 of an inch wide just to cover the slit, will it make it and hatch? i have been praying all day bc i really hope i didnt mess this guy up!! it would be soooo cool!
>>any help would be nice, and i know it was dumb but i just wanted to know if i would be home for there hatching!
>>jake
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>>1.1 v. griseus

Get some tissue paper and get it wet with the yolk.....It makes a great patch.....
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...
www.coastalbendcaptivebreeding.com

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! ill keep yall posted!
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1.1 v. griseus

Just a couple thoughts.... The electrical tape will be too hard for them when it's time to get out. The tissue paper sounds like a much better fix. Also it might be twins. Are you 100% sure it's one snake with two heads and not two snakes? Good luck either way!
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

Funny you happened to mention that, because that is a very likely possibility unless the entire neck was seen. Their heads are usually tucked way down in the middle of their coils to see much neck(if any).

I agree with what Rainer said too. The egg must be kept as sterile as possible so NO FLIES can seek it out.

Indoors up on a dark closet shelf would be best at this point. Also the tissue/yolk "scab" that John Lassiter mentioned sounds good too. A big chunk of tape would force the neonate to have to readjust it's position to pip, and that would probably be quite impossible for it to do, killing it in the process.

Hope that thing hatches (or things), I can't wait to see what the heck the deal is on it!..LOL!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

hey guys thanks for the input! im almost 100% sure its two headed, both heads popped out at the same time and went back at the same time and were the same length, and it is the smallest, not by much, egg of the group. i really didnt take to long to look at it for i kinda freaked ya know! haha but i will def let everyone know how it does and whether or not its two headed or two snakes!
jake
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1.1 v. griseus

Good deal!

Yes, we are all very interested to see how things turn out with that!

regards, ~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

A big chunk of tape would force the neonate to have to readjust it's position to pip, and that would probably be quite impossible for it to do, killing it in the process.

The tape does not really stick to the eggs so it does not force the snake to pip somewhere else. They just push. I use black electric tape. It kinda acts as a door when the snake is ready to come out. It really is there to keep in the moisture. Tissue paper , paper-towel ect will absorb and draw out more of the moisture.
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www.Bluerosy.com

>>A big chunk of tape would force the neonate to have to readjust it's position to pip, and that would probably be quite impossible for it to do, killing it in the process.
>>
>>The tape does not really stick to the eggs so it does not force the snake to pip somewhere else. They just push. I use black electric tape. It kinda acts as a door when the snake is ready to come out. It really is there to keep in the moisture. Tissue paper , paper-towel ect will absorb and draw out more of the moisture.
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Nope...I've used it many times and it works great.....
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...
www.coastalbendcaptivebreeding.com

Yeah, now that I think about it, the yolk would prevent the tape from being able to stick much at all basically. I can see that easily working fine.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

I have had them hatch after cutting to early before. It is not the best start for a snake because it will come out smaller. Also being a 2 headed snake it does not have much chance of eating and growing even without getting a bad start.

Best thing is to leave the egg alone because any fussing with it will drain more fluid out of it. The tape is fine. Just any more handling it will disturb the contents to spill out.

You need to keep it in a VERY sterlie environment becasue its biggest enemy are maggots getting in there. In other words fruit flies or flies of any kind.
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www.Bluerosy.com

I hope they were just about done, regardless if it's twins or two-headed. I would think you had to cut a pretty big hole, or almost take that egg clear apart to be able to see 2 heads pop up at the same time and the yolk sac. Heck, I've seen a LOT of fluid come out of the hole they cut themselves trying to get out, let alone a much bigger one.

The good thing is, color appears to be one of the last things to come in before hatch, so if they are fully colored, that may be a good sign.
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Brian Suter

www.serpenteer.com

Yeah, and another VERY good sign is that there is no way the snake would have been able to pop it's head up, then go back down unless it was just about to pip anyway.

My guess is it was possibly only a day or two away from emerging. There is even a pretty good chance that the "window" that was cut actually helped the situation. I say this because quite often anomalies like this can have a very tough time pipping the egg on their own and often die because they cannot successfully pip.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

one also opened its mouth!
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1.1 v. griseus

You need to start clicking pics and record this stuff.

I am sure everyone would love to see the egg in its present state and the developmenst aferwards. Especially since it is a two headed snake.

Would be great to have pics to record all this since the cutting was premature and it could help others in the future .

But as i said before it is paramount that the egg keep as much of its fluid as possible. Some snakes stay in the egg for two weeks after slitting because the slit where the umbilical cord did not close. By staking out the nutrients for it to fully develope it might not go full term.
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www.Bluerosy.com

Im not a betting man but if I had to bet I would say it is probably twins. Not trying to damper the mood, just my gut feeling. If it is a two headed snake than that's even better for sure! But am I correct to think that one even opened it's mouth which could be a sign it was taking it's first breath, and then the egg was taped?
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

I know!. If it opened it's mouth, I wouldn't cover it up at all. Just put it very upright in as sterile an environment as possible, and just let it be.

Hopefully within a couple days it will stick it's nose out to breathe and relax for a while.

Bubbles in the yolk would of course be an excellent sign here. That would mean it is at least breathing like other neonates would be at this stage of emergense.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Im not a betting man but if I had to bet I would say it is probably twins. Not trying to damper the mood, just my gut feeling.

Yes twins are very common. I've had a few.

Wish i could get a 2 headed snake. It is awalys exceiting to see or hear of someone producing one.

Even though most die. It is even more rare to get one that eats and grows into adult hood.
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www.Bluerosy.com

so the egg looks great! i cut another out for scientific reasons to see just how close they are... it has almost full color (mostly black with small bands, same on belly but you can see some blood veins, and it can move some, it tried to breath but didnt suck in any at all, it died after about 30 min or so. i really hated to do it but i figured i would so i could let yall know just how far a long they are and how early they can be cut. i took pics but will have to post them later! i give it about a week, week and a half from hatching.
jake
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1.1 v. griseus