Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, today is day 50. The final score I believe will be nine but I am not totally sure as I didn't want to get too disruptive with the eggs. This is a small clutch but it is this females first time being bred. I found two eggs cast aside by the female that both proved to be infertile. There was also one egg adhered to the mass that also was infertile but did not disrupt any of the other eggs. The thing I find strange is that about three weeks ago I peeked in at the female and saw the near black colored infertile egg on top, right underneath the females head. When I checked last week I did not see that egg on top. When I removed the female from the eggs, that black egg was on the bottom. I had no idea that they moved the adhered egg mass around during incubation. The only thing I can devise for sure from this observation is that sometime withing the last three weeks of incubation, the female spun the ball of eggs upside down. Whether or not the eggs took more turns and rotations as the days clicked away, I have no idea. Anyway, here is a pic, enjoy...

That's another great picture you've taken. Wow, both red and yellow hatchlings in the shot too. Very nice indeed!

You're observation about the black decomposed egg is interesting. For the other eggs, usually if a living egg is rotated there's a good chance the developing snake within may die. Then again we're always learning new things.

I've noticed that eggs which are missed within the clutch mass by the female are at times fertile and living after oviposition, but they generally wrinkle with dehydration, die and turn dark once dead if they just sit next to the brooding female. If you dig through the egg usually you can find an embryo which was once developing. I'd be interested in a picture of this if you're up for it. Any indication of blood suggests the egg was once living and fertilized.

Great picture!!!

Congratulations on the hatching success!

And thanks for the info regarding the egg moving around, that is certainly interesting stuff. I'm almost considering letting my girl go maternal this time after all just to see if she does it too. lol
Arboreal Addictions dot Com

When the eggs were deposited, the female had cast aside two eggs. One was an obvious slug, wet, yellow and too small. The other looked good so I incubated it using the no substrate method. It was fine until about halfway through, when it was obvious that it wasn't going to make it, I opened it. It was your typical solid cheese looking substance with no evidence of veins, blood vessels or embyo. I discovered one more egg that was cast aside, visible in the pic that I missed when eggs were laid. I cut it open to find the same contents as the others. The black egg that was part of the clutch was too far gone to tell what it was but I would have to say infertile, looked like dried egg yolk, didn't see anything else. As of this morning, three babies have emerged, two reds and one yellow. I moved the eggs into the incubator like I usually do to wait for the rest to emerge. It has been my experience that babies will hatch over a period of three days but I did pip each egg at this point.

Hey, thanks for the cool info. I always enjoy the details of others. Don't forget the family picture when they're all out.

This is one of my favorite pix to see, a mom with babies emerging and they all look wonderful!!! Thanks for sharing them with us, seems to be lots of babies popping out all over. LOL, I say , bring em on!.....