Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, the egg I was talking about a couple of days ago that was denting in finally hatched. Everyone told me that since it was starting to dent in, it would go bad and start growing mold. Now, I havent been hatching eggs very long, but every other egg I have hatched dented in (not totally, just a little) and started sweating about two days before it hatched, and all of my other babies have hatched out just fine.

Well, the last egg of the season hatched yesterday at 52 days. It had dented in on top a couple days before. However, when I woke up and went to check on the egg, I unfortunately found that he had hatched and died. Ive heard of many hatchlings that never make it out of the egg, or only make their heads out and thats it, but this baby was all the way out of the egg. It managed the difficult journey out of the egg only to die The strange thing though, is that his stomach was still attached to the egg as if it was still developing or something. His stomach was stuck to the egg by a pinkish, gooey substance kind of like those slimy hands that stretch and stick on walls that you can buy for 25 cents out of those little machines. Hmm, I dont even know if that made any sense but maybe some of you know what Im talking about.

So whats the deal? Did the baby hatch "prematurely"? Does that happen? Im sure whatever that stuff is, it has to do with why he died before I woke up. He was pretty much full size, maybe a tad smaller than any other hatchling, he had toes already developed and everything, I just dont know what the deal was with that stuff all over his stomach? He/she had such a nice looking pattern too

Anyone else had any experiences like this? Sorry no pic, I couldnt bare to. Not the ideal way to end my breeding season, but there's always next year..

Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving! Thanks for all your help

Joe

I'm not sure why your baby died. But, the slimy stuff attached to his stomach is the remains of his yolk sac. A net work of blood vessels connect the yolk sac to the leo. From the sounds of it the sac was not completely absorbed. If you lift up a young leo you will see a small scar in that area. This is their version of a belly button.
-Alice

unfortunately, sounds like something disturbed the egg, and caused the little guy to try and hatch early (sometimes happens with a lot of handling, though it might have nothing to do with that). i haven't bred yet, but a friend of mine is doing her thesis with developing alligator embryos. the yolk was likely not totally absorbed, which would mean the little fellow had a major vulnerability. it might be that he died because he wasn't developed enough to survive, because the area open, where the yolk was still absorbing, got something in it (bacteria or sand or whatever), or, my guess, would be that maybe, through that exposed connection, he may have lost some blood. though it's sad, try not to blame yourself. somethimes, these things just happen. and, it's possible that there was something congenitally wrong with the guy, and it's better for him to have passed now, than in a drawn-out suffering later.
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marla
keeper of: axolotls, catfish, ferrets, leopard geckoes, oriental fire-bellied toads, and sugar gliders

In some ways this year has been great for me. In other ways, it won't go down as one of my favorites. I had three near deaths right in the incubator. Two were near drownings. The third was found just outside the egg, and I could see no reason for it not to be breathing and moving. All three recovered with somewhat vigorous massage - too gentle and they didn't seem to feel it, but not rough. Maybe "brisk" is the right word. All three are healthy and growing fine; they seem to be at least as smart as the others.

Some of my eggs get that dent before hatching. My son can point out the eggs about to hatch two days beforehand. He says they look bigger, but I usually can't see the difference.

Btw, I appreciate the 'graphic' warning. Thanks.

It does sound like the hatchling was not fully mature. Why it hatched out early is beyond me. Last year I incubated mostly females at 80 - 81f. They took quite awhile to hatch, and I think a few went just over 60 days.

>>Well, the egg I was talking about a couple of days ago that was denting in finally hatched. Everyone told me that since it was starting to dent in, it would go bad and start growing mold. Now, I havent been hatching eggs very long, but every other egg I have hatched dented in (not totally, just a little) and started sweating about two days before it hatched, and all of my other babies have hatched out just fine.
>>
>>Well, the last egg of the season hatched yesterday at 52 days. It had dented in on top a couple days before. However, when I woke up and went to check on the egg, I unfortunately found that he had hatched and died. Ive heard of many hatchlings that never make it out of the egg, or only make their heads out and thats it, but this baby was all the way out of the egg. It managed the difficult journey out of the egg only to die The strange thing though, is that his stomach was still attached to the egg as if it was still developing or something. His stomach was stuck to the egg by a pinkish, gooey substance kind of like those slimy hands that stretch and stick on walls that you can buy for 25 cents out of those little machines. Hmm, I dont even know if that made any sense but maybe some of you know what Im talking about.
>>
>>So whats the deal? Did the baby hatch "prematurely"? Does that happen? Im sure whatever that stuff is, it has to do with why he died before I woke up. He was pretty much full size, maybe a tad smaller than any other hatchling, he had toes already developed and everything, I just dont know what the deal was with that stuff all over his stomach? He/she had such a nice looking pattern too
>>
>>Anyone else had any experiences like this? Sorry no pic, I couldnt bare to. Not the ideal way to end my breeding season, but there's always next year..
>>
>>Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving! Thanks for all your help
>>
>>Joe
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Andrea A.

I had two like that this year and both died after a day or so.

It is so sad... this is my first yer breeding and i have had two die out of 10...

I know there is usually nothing you can do about hatching problems, I had just never heard of this particular one however. I was interested to know if this had happened to other people or if it was common or rare or what. Well, here's to next year!!!

joe