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Okay, I've had a lot of bad luck this year. I thought perhaps it was due to the AC failure that so many of my cornsnake babies were either dead at full term, or had some degree of deformation (or both). One of my corns laid a second clutch, and today, I noticed one of the three eggs sweating. Sure sign of dead-in-egg, or so I believe due to my earlier experiences this year. So I slit it... sure enough, the little hatchling (due to hatch any moment anyway) was dead. And had what I have termed "Dinosaur head". shortened snout, dome forehead. This one didn't have any kinks, but did have the dome head. No sign of an egg tooth. My guess: tried to pip, but the egg tooth penetrated the inner membrane without penetrating the actual shell, before breaking off, leaving the little baby to drown and the egg to sweat.

*sigh*

While I'm talking about this new "bunch" (if three can be called a "bunch" thought I would give an update on the 8 "keepers" from my earlier 35 eggs.

Me and the kids like to give all the baby snakes "baby names", and it's easier to refer to them by name:

Mr. Kinks: The most horribly deformed baby that I allowed to live (I euthanized a bunch)... he began his first shed but got only the head portion off... the rest remained. He never seemed able to really properly slither, and didn't want to eat. I know some will feel bad about this, but when one of my kingsnake babies wouldn't feed, I used him to tempt the kingsnake to feed. End of Mr. Kinks.

Funky: The second most deformed baby allowed to live. Still very fat from yolk, still hasn't eaten. He has small kinks every third or fourth vertebrae, and a dinosaur-head. I still hope he eats.

Pinky: Full Sibling to Funky, she had one pinky to eat but hasn't eaten since then. She has a slight dome forehead but no other signs of deformities. She's a little surprise Amel (didn't know either parent was het for amel).

Striker: A few small kinks along his spine, a perfectly formed head, a major strike response, she's eaten every time I offer her food and is growing fast!

Striper: Same looks and everything as Striker, only no feeding response.

Jumanji: A few small kinks in the spine, normal head, major appetite, looks like he'll be a gorgeous Okeetee, he escaped right out of his hatchling box, but luckily was found pretty close.

Hope: Reverse Okeetee with slight dino head and small kink, didn't seem to be hungry, but then chowed down on a pinky.

Perfecto: looks the same as Jumanji in deformities, but no appetite.

This one season made things very disheartening for me. I can only hope the last two eggs to hatch come up normal, but I don't hold my breath expecting miracles.
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~Sasheena

Wow...Sorry to hear that. I thought I was unlucky when I didn't get any caramels or ambers, even though I had a 25% chance to get them.

Can I ask at what temp you incubated them at? I'm wondering if too high of temps caused some of your problems.
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alstiver@hotmail.com

3.3 adult cornsnakes
0.3.10 baby cornsnakes
8 cornsnake eggs

This latest bunch were incubated at room temperature, which was always between 82 and 84. The bunch before suffered a heat spike with the AC failed. My guess now, due to the fact that I got more deformed babies, is that it is pharmacological in nature.... some environmental poison is probably responsible. Perhaps the water fed the momma snakes caused problems, or the water fed the feeders (same water), or the ant spray hubby used outside the mouse house that the mice got ahold of. My earlier disappointments caused me to re-examine all of the practices that I have followed and I've changed a lot of things. The snakes AND the mice drink bottled water now, no pesticides are sprayed near the mice or the snakes, and hopefully no further AC failures will effect the snakes. I even plan to use a different male for all but one control breeding. Next year I'm going to change the way I incubate the eggs and try to keep the eggs from actually touching the vermiculite substrate on the off chance it is the substrate that is causing the problems. The most baffling part of the problems I had is that the kingsnake eggs, laid within five days of the corn eggs, suffered much fewer problems. I lost a whole clutch (but the female was gravid during the AC failure, putting her in distress), and the other clutch of 12 only got 9 to hatch out, but those 9 are perfect in every way.

In any case, If I continue to have luck with kings next year, and BAD luck with corns, then I think I'll be planning to sell my corns and stick with kings. BUT, I hope with the variety of changes I will be making, I will avoid whatever caused my tragedies this year.
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~Sasheena

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alstiver@hotmail.com

3.3 adult cornsnakes
0.3.10 baby cornsnakes
8 cornsnake eggs