Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So, first off, I have no plans on doing this, but I've seen it mentioned a lot. Seems to have mixed results, with either the slitting of the egg helping the baby, or the baby not being ready yet, and the slitting killing it. I've read more of the slitting actually killing the baby than helping it.

So my question is, why do people do this? Is there something I'm missing? Can someone explain to me the process and its benefits?
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4.4 Western Hognose
1.1 Ball Pythons

Are you saying people do this for hogs?

I've seen it done (to the baby's benefit) with the occasional egg that does not hatch when all of its siblings did hatch. That is an uncommon situation.

I've seen it routinely done with retics (those super-pricey morphs) with apparently no harm to the babies, and we are speaking of large clutches.

The rumor is it is a way to reduce the number of babies found fully developed but dead in the egg.

I'm not sure, I've just read in general of people doing it. A friend told me that due to the rostral scale on a hoggy, you'd never actually need to slit a hognose egg.
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4.4 Western Hognose
1.1 Ball Pythons

I've done it many, many times with Kings and Milks...however I wouldn't try it with Hog eggs, due to the delicate nature of the egg when comparing it to other colubrids and due to my current lack of knowledge of Hogs (still a newcomer to Hogs).

I usually wait for two or more neonates to pip on there own and then carefully cut small windows in the remaining eggs because I can't wait due to my excitement of prove out clutches.

I would NOT recommend for anyone slit eggs...but it might save a snake that didn't develop an egg tooth or some other issues.

Unfortunately, other issues are deformities in my experience.

In my opinion, this should ONLY be done with EXTREMELY delicate hands, and patience!

I recently had a clutch of eggs and two of the babies did not make it because they couldn't get though the eggs and drown in the yolk.

This is my experience with "my situation:" I patiently watched the eggs hatch and noticed a couple eggs that had the snakes moving inside. They both were pushing their heads against the wall of the eggs, and wasn't able to come through. Unfortunately, I waited too long to cut a hole, and they were dead by the time I was able to help them.

So I guess I would say that if you see a baby snake STRUGGLING (several times) to push through the egg, and it's unsuccessful, it may be OK to intervene and cut a hole in the egg (probably where it's pushing it's head at). To make sure you are safe, you can try grabbing a little "piece" (or flap) between a pair of tweezers (or sterile needle nose pliers), and cut along the tweezers/pliers. Another good thing to try is using a razor and running the blade from the egg, and up (away from the egg). That way you will "hopefully" keep the sharp edge of the blade away from the baby snake, and pinching the egg will also keep the blade away from the snake.

I hope this helps, but PLEASE do not use this method unless you think it is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY!

Jeff