Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all
I just finished opening 2 cal king eggs that should have hatched 5 days ago, and what I found was a bit sad and disturbing

Both babies were VERY badly deformed. The first one was rather large and severely kinked but with a teensy domed head. there were parts of him towards the middle that hadn't completely separated, and his abdomen had also not formed properly and his guts were just laying out there. The second one would have been the runt and had a really nice zebra-like pattern. Unfortunately he also had a teensy domed head and NO bottom jaw. His body was even more severely joined together than the first one and his insides were also hanging out, not quite as badly as the first one though

I know i know, this type of thing happens all the time, it's part of nature, and yes, In my 10 years of breeding I have seen it before; a couple of times in my animals, and a few times in friends'. But the difference in this case is that they were both very much ALIVE. They were thrashing about, trying their damndest to live. It was heartbreaking to see the poor little things so obviously suffering and I immediately euthanized them. Poor little guys

These 2 eggs were the only 2 that managed to survive from a clutch of 14, which included 7 slugs. The rest died within 2 weeks of being laid. They came from one of my males and that WC banded female that my friend caught just outside Austin Texas last summer, the one we figured to be an escapee or a release.

I had another gravid female, but I don't really know what happened with her but I'm pretty damn sure she re-absorbed her eggs, she certainly didn't eat them. It was her first year so no biggie, will try again next season.

On a better note, keep your fingers crossed for me as 3/9 eggs from another cali clutch have pipped, the first one emerged earlier today and looks great BUT These guys are hatching about a week early!! This has been one straaaaange year...

~Roo
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"Klaatu...Verata...Nicht--cough, cough, cough!"

bad things happen....good luck on your next.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

My sincere condolences! I had that sort of thing with a set of twin cornsnakes... joined loops (you described it better)... HEART outside, heads joined.... one of the twins didn't seem to be "alive" ... but I could see blood pumping through the external heart. I had to euthanize a BUNCH of my cornsnake hatchlings, too severely deformed to live... a lot with domed heads missing or severely deformed jaws. luckily the kingsnake clutch that hatched was all well formed babies. The tiniest, with an umbilical partial strangulation that undoubtedly stunted his growth at the end of incubation, is still holding his own... finally shed over a week later than his siblings...and he'd eaten twice before he shed, and ate his third meal while he was shedding. (Making up for lost time... he was so tiny a pinkie head was a huge hour long meal, and now he eats newborns with ease).

Good luck with the ones you still have... and may we ALL have better luck next year!

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~Sasheena