But I haven't got pictures yet.
My cal king clutch I worried so much about has finally hatched. Started bad with one egg suddenly sweating and turning dark. (dead in egg). But the remaining 9 eggs all hatched, even one that was a horribly shrunken egg for almost the entire incubation. (always showed veins when candled, never molded, so it was left to incubate). One of the babies was very slow to leave the egg, and after a while I investigated, and she had her little "umbilical" wrapped around where her belly-button comes from and was quite swollen aft of that location. The yolk appeared to be getting "ripe" and so I took a gamble and snipped it, freeing her of the constriction and leaving about a quarter inch of "cord" hanging out. Bit of blood, and was pretty sure I would lose her (haven't popped them, so gender references are gratuitous). Next day there was more blood in her container.. .the piece of umbilical had detached, and her bellow had closed up! She's SUPER TINY... the size of a small cornsnake hatchling, but in general seems to be doing fine. Another one exited the egg prematurely and appears like it might not make it... been losing bits of yolk from the tummy ever since it hatched. The rest seem to be fine.... a few left the egg without their yolk and are skinny, some waited to hatch at the right time and are super fat. I'll post pictures later.
My other king who laid a clutch of 15 eggs that all died was getting ready to lay her second clutch when she escaped!!! ARGH... she was wild caught, and perhaps she deserved her freedom. My guess is she found a nice little niche right beneath the "mouse house" where she was kept. The little wild mice live under there, and ones from my mouse house escape from time to time. It was very frustrating to lose her, especially at such a time!
The king who laid the clutch that hatched appears to be gravid again, she's just going blue and looking mighty fat!
I'll post pictures a little later in the week. Been taking final exams in the last courses necessary to get fully certified as an Arizona teacher, so that's been weighing heavily on my mind.
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~Sasheena
