Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have eggs due to hatch any day now. Over the past few days 3 of them caved in. This happened with my last clutch and each time the hatchling was dead inside. So when it happened this time I cut the eggs open.

2 of the eggs were dead. However, the third egg re-inflated over the 10 minutes it took me to cut the other two babies out of the eggs. The internal pressure of the third egg was solid, pressing on the egg wall did not push in.

I cut it open anyway... It was still alive and developing just fine. Nothing makes you freak out more than to see a baby you just cut out of an egg and think is dead actually flick its tongue and breath and move. Luckily, it appears the hatchling will do fine. I got REALLY lucky.

It was weird cutting it out though. The veins were still there and the egg bled a bit, which was my first clue I had made a bad mistake. That does make me curious about why there are no veins in the dead ones I cut out. How quickly do the veins break down after death...

My biggest problem is figuring out what I am doing wrong that leads some hatchlings to go almost full-term and then die at the end.

Here's a link to a page dedicated to them:

http://members.cox.net/salvators/hatch_feb_04.html
February Hatchlings

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^x^ Bloodbat ^x^

There were no viens attached to the egg walls at all on the other two???

I didn't think that happened until they were ready to hatch. hmmm

That is correct. Nothing attached to the sidewalls. This has been the case for all the dead hatchlings (9) I have cut out of eggs. Not a one has had veins connected to the egg wall. Previously, I waited a long time to cut the babies out of the egg and it was clear some decay had begun by the time I did so. But these two had not really begun to smell or turn red. I believe they were only recently dead. So that leaves me to wonder what that means.

Were they ready to hatch and died before getting out? These were fully developed although they had fairly large yolk sacs. Jalepeño had a similar sized yolk sac when he hatched and he is alive and well right now.

Do the veins decay very quickly? I really believe at least one of these babies died only yesterday or the day before.

Is there a problem with the development that is characterized by the lack of veins?

What other possibilities am I missing?

More importantly, what am I doing or not doing that is resulting in this problem to repeat itself. This is the third clutch with a similar problem so I am obviously doing something consistently problematic.

If I recall correctly (and I might not), these three eggs were collapsing many months ago. I solved this problem by burying them in moist vermiculite on top of the perlite they were resting on. Excess moisture? I had not added any more water to any of these eggs since at least December and maybe even not at all (I just don't remember). Excess moisture has been suggested with my previous problematic clutch. However with the present clutch I did not add much if any. I guess the thing to do is not add any water to a future clutch and see what happens. I may have more answers or clues when I see what the remaining 9 eggs do in the next week or two (eggs are now at 190 days.)
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^x^ Bloodbat ^x^

If the outside of the egg is in contact with water, maybe they are not getting the right air exchange??

Usually to wet they dont absorb the yolk sac. But then again to dry and the egg shrivles up and the shell sticks to the babies.

These are good questions and someone that studies the inner egg may know more.

Maybe FR will come in and add a little something to this. It's a better topic then most I have seen on here as of late. IMO

I'll think this over myself and see what I can come up with.

Hey Bloodbat, try putting less eggs per container. During the latter development process lots of energy is created and oxygen is part of that process with the waste byproduct be carbon dioxide. Maybe your eggs are dying due to carbon dioxide poisoning.

Just a thought.

n/p

If I recall correctly, I did not add any additional water to these eggs in many months. Again, if I recall correctly, many months ago (probably in the first 2-3 months) one or two of the eggs began collapsing. I added moist vermiculite (squeezed the water out of the verm) on top of the perlite so that the eggs were mostly covered. The eggs filled out and obviously continued to develop since they were fully developed upon death. There is a slight chance that I may have added water to the vermiculite in early to mid-December, but I do not remember. I definitely have not added water since then.

However, I did add water to the December clutch and half of those died. I do not remember if I added water to the September clutch but I lost 2 of the 3 that went the distance so I suspect I may have done so.

Therefore, with those losses in mind and the fairly unanimous advice that excess water may result in the very problem I am encountering, I will have to watch my water usage from now on.

On the plus side, I do not think I added any water ever to the remaining eggs. It might also explain why the remaining eggs have not yet hatched. Time will tell.
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^x^ Bloodbat ^x^