Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, my last clutch of three eggs "hatched" today.

That is to say, a week ago one egg showed all the signs of the baby snake being "dead in the egg" so I cut it open, and found a normal baby, dead in the egg, with a domed (deformed) head. A week later, with one of hte eggs severely collapsed, my patience ran out. I first cut open the collapsed egg, and had runny 'snot" colored stuff come out... I KNOW that is a bad sign, and I opened the egg the rest of the way, and found a not-quite-full-term baby in the egg, with a hard-boiled-in-appearance yolk. So, with two down, I decided to open up the perfect egg.

Inside, I found a surprise, a snow?! (opinions welcomed... could it be an uncolored-up-yet amel?) When the two snakes were bred I expected to get 50% motley-striped, and 50% het for stripe babies, all normals. I got some amel's in the first clutch, and now a snow in this second clutch. Sadly I had to put the snow down, as it was very severely kinked and the umbilical entered in a huge opening, with half the innards of the animal on the outside of the animal. Next year, I will have to change everything in case it is the water, the feeders, the substrate or the temperatures. Sad ending to a bad year breeding corns.

Sadly, I had to euthanize the animal.

-----
~Sasheena

>>Well, my last clutch of three eggs "hatched" today.
>>
>>That is to say, a week ago one egg showed all the signs of the baby snake being "dead in the egg" so I cut it open, and found a normal baby, dead in the egg, with a domed (deformed) head. A week later, with one of hte eggs severely collapsed, my patience ran out. I first cut open the collapsed egg, and had runny 'snot" colored stuff come out... I KNOW that is a bad sign, and I opened the egg the rest of the way, and found a not-quite-full-term baby in the egg, with a hard-boiled-in-appearance yolk. So, with two down, I decided to open up the perfect egg.
>>
>>Inside, I found a surprise, a snow?! (opinions welcomed... could it be an uncolored-up-yet amel?) When the two snakes were bred I expected to get 50% motley-striped, and 50% het for stripe babies, all normals. I got some amel's in the first clutch, and now a snow in this second clutch. Sadly I had to put the snow down, as it was very severely kinked and the umbilical entered in a huge opening, with half the innards of the animal on the outside of the animal. Next year, I will have to change everything in case it is the water, the feeders, the substrate or the temperatures. Sad ending to a bad year breeding corns.
>>
>>
>>
>>Sadly, I had to euthanize the animal.
>>
>>-----
>>~Sasheena

Hey Sasheena,
First let me say I am sorry for the bad luck you have had this year.
Now, as for the hatchling, it does look like a snow.
It doesn't have the orange or light red "spots" like the late changing amels seem to have.
Like you said, next year you might want to change just about everything. Incubation substrate, feeder source, temps and whatever else you can think of.
I bet you will have better luck next year.
-----
Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"resistance is futile"
Jimmy (draybar)

aren't snakes fun?...........hate the kinked,dead,rotting stuff too......

looks like a snow........

......you said..." with half the gits outside the body"....you do know that the yellow thing/sack is the egg yolk and it is supose to be outside the body ,right?....

yes...the center of the bellies doesn't always connect,and you can look right inside and see the heart or lungs and all working.....

kinks are sad.....what temps did you have them at?>.......all constant or did temps fluxuate?.........

.........

......and are parents too fat?.or too skinny?.......(usually too fat)........

......good luck next year.........

JY
-----
.....wow....you people....really.....you are exactly like I thought.........

............right?

......................................................

>>......you said..." with half the gits outside the body"....you do know that the yellow thing/sack is the egg yolk and it is supose to be outside the body ,right?....

Yes, there was the yolk sac... the umbilical...then a dark liverish looking mass, followed by a white wormy mass, the "slit" for the umbilical was at least an inch long, innards on the inside, and on the outside. ick.

>>kinks are sad.....what temps did you have them at?>.......all constant or did temps fluxuate?.........

The temps were "room temp" with the thermostat keeping the eggs mostly right around 82 degrees, a little warmer during the high heat of the day, not much cooler than 82 even at night.

>>......and are parents too fat?.or too skinny?.......(usually too fat)........

Nope not fat nor too skinny. It was the second clutch for a first year breeder, laid two days before the first clutch started to hatch. Both parent snakes were first year breeders. Unrelated, as the "mother snake" was bred by a friend of Kathy Love and the "father snake" was bred locally here in Arizona. I feed my snakes well, but only one of my snakes has any sign of obesity, and that's because she'll eat anything (my hand included) given the slightest provocation!

Next year I'll know if it was a snow by crossing the female with my snow motley male. Since she is supposed to be het motley (no sign of that in the 13 babies that hatched) I should get roughly 50% that are motley, and 50% het motley, plus I should get 25% Anery, 25% Amel, 25% snow, 25% anery and 25% normal. Hopefully with ZERO % kinks and deformities.
-----
~Sasheena