Reptile & Amphibian Forums

At what day is it safe to cut eggs? i always do day 56 or when i see one pip. Will cutting earlier hurt them?

i only cut once one pips, sometimes not at all. if they were all stuck in an uneven clump, i leave them alone. if hey were seperate and incubated flat then ill cut once one pips.
adam jeffery
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" a.k.a. farfrumugen "
When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car.

I wait until one or two have pipped,but if the eggs were stuck in a clump, I leave them alone. In my opinion, it is always risky to cut, the babies might not be fully developed, they might dry out, there is also the risk of infection...
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Sed et serpens erat callidior cunctis animantibus terrae quae fecerat Dominus Deus...

>>At what day is it safe to cut eggs? i always do day 56 or when i see one pip. Will cutting earlier hurt them?

IMO,There is really no set day for the unatural act of cutting eggs.Don't get me wrong,i'm definitely a cutter! lol
It's just that there are several factors that have to be taken into consideration.Incubation temperatures,humidity levels,and even genetic lineage,etc.

Another thing to consider is that if you cut to early and a microbe of mold(or some other sort of little nasty)takes hold within the egg?Then you will have that race against time going as well.

All that being said,i myself have cut as early as day 46 (and yes,it damn near cost me a few,due to mold spore.)
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Charles Glaspie
picasaweb.google.com/coldthumb

Like people have said, I wait until one pips.........then I cut the rest. I just like to show them the way, make it a little easier.

If I cut, I have never had a problem with mold......I have never heard of mold killing something in the 2 to 3 days it takes for the rest to pip, and all come out.

Now here's where I disagree.......if they are in a pile, an uneven clutch, I actually find it MORE important to cut.........sure, I may still wait for one to pip, but I try to make it easier for them to see the way out. Why? Because the eggs underneath can actually try and break through, and break into another egg and drown. So, I try to make it easier for them........what you might also be able to do, is during the last few days, the eggs separate, or get "unstuck", and I try to get them off of each other.

Don't ever cut too early.......that's why you wait until one pips! That means they are ready. Just remember to not cut too deep.......just pinch the egg a little bit, and cut into it. Try not to hit a vein. Disturbing them can cause them to come out too early, and even leave their egg yolk behind! But that's actually more of an issue if you cut too early BEFORE one pips.......

Brandon Boeke
Priceless Pythons

If the eggs are piled in a clump, close to day number 56 the eggs will release from each other usually. You can very gently pull them apart and lay them out individually. This is a very cool natural phenomenon that occurs to facilitate the hatchlings getting out of their eggs.

to say I agree with above posters. I don't cut except in two instances: if one or two eggs go days past all others that have pipped, I will then cut those eggs; and if the whole clutch is 8-10 days past my estimated hatch time then I'll cut and see what's going on. I estimate my egg hatch dates at 56 days and incubate at 88-89 degrees.

If the eggs are stuck in a clump, I try to separate them as they get closer to hatch. Usually at the end of the incubation process it gets easy to "unstuck" them. Then I wait for one or two to pip before cutting them. Never too deep!
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Sed et serpens erat callidior cunctis animantibus terrae quae fecerat Dominus Deus...