Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I openned one of the two "good eggs" and it was awsome. The snake was fully developed, beautifully patterned too. It had fully developed scales, and was no more then 2 days away from hatching when it died. From the looks, and smells of it, it was probably dead for about 5-7 days. I left the other one in there just in case, but i think it will have the same result. Any idea why this happenned? Was it the sudden move at the end from the moss to the perlite? I guess i should have just left them in with the larvae infested moss. Oh well, i guess thats the last breeding of animals i'll ever do, i doubt ill be catching any gravid female easterns anytime soon. And thus concludes my final post. Thanks for your help.

Please do not be discouraged.. The same thing happened to me. I lost 4 babies...When I purchased a female she was gravid.
The eggs went for 77 days...when I opened them..the babies were like yours only still enclosed in sacs...After talking with some people I think my measurement of the temp. was not as accurate as it should have been. A hard lesson, but still a lesson for the future.
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All creatures great and small we are to care for them all.
4 Corns,6 Kings,3 Milks,1 German Shephard,1 Cairn & 1 Giant Schnauzer

Cito,

It happens, that's all that can be said. It a shame, but it happens. I'm sorry the snakes didn't make it, but there are things you can do going forward.

Leave the wild gravid snakes where they are and try your hand at the captive breeding process from start to finish.

Have everything ready from the time the snake is about to lay (the shed 7 to 10 days before), then transfer the eggs to the incubator. That should be the only transfer. Then forget about them. In most cases, that's the hardest thing to do, but from your strings, you seemed a little antsy. Just put them out of your mind.

Every year, I find fruit flies also using the egg laying boxes as incubators. Even if they're crawling on the eggs, it won't hurt them. As hobbyists, it's very apparent we take a much more sterile, controlled approach to our animals, with this and that kept "just right." But when these eggs are layed beneath a log, I'm sure they're encountered by things much worse than fly larvae.

Temperatures are important. Someone's mentioned that. It needn't be constant, but too high and you're in trouble. Like humidity, less is more, it's easier to add moisture (or heat) than it is to take away. And more importantly, a lot less damaging.

Just learn a lesson from this experience. Be prepared. Be patient. And be ready when they hatch, because the next time, if you just let them be, chances are they will hatch.

Carl

Yea im pretty sure the problem was when i switched their substrate becuase of the fruit flies. I think they were fine with the moss and that was a good temperature, but when i touched the perlite, i noticed it was pretty hot, like the road gets after its been in the sun. Why perlite gets hotter i dont know.