Reptile & Amphibian Forums

all of my cal king eggs hatched saturday night except one. and it's now monday morning. should i open the egg? or give it more time?

Don't cut into the egg but rather cut sideways so you don't cut the snake. I use a very small scissors the size of a manicure scissors.

Just make a small incision and wait for the head to pop out. I would not advice removing the snake from the egg as some are "late bloomers" and still are absorbing through the umbilical cord.

Good Luck!

As Bluerosy says - you should cut into it, but - here is what I do:

Turn off the lights and get a small flashlight. Candle the egg and, with pencil in hand, lightly trace the thick veins that run around the egg where you plan to cut. Avoid cutting these veins because that blood needs to be absorbed by the snake before it leaves the egg.

I have "pipped" eggs before and I started doing this to avoid the bloody mess that I used to get by just slicing anywhere I wanted through the shell.

Also, as Bluerosy said, cut sideways through the egg - and what you will find is that if you cut at the top of the egg there will be a gap between the shell and the thin membrane that the neonate is encased in. I would not cut the membrane. Probably the snake will emerge shortly after.

One other thing - see the pic below. You can see where I cut open a shell last year (lower right). You have to cut out a "window" for the snake.

Good luck.

-----
Peter Jolles
East Coast Colubrids
www.eastcoastcolubrids.com
peterjolles@eastcoastcolubrids.com

all the hatchlings are doing great.

i assume those are eastern kings... i really like the one on the right... it looks like a Fl. King, is he/she for sale or any of it's siblings with similar patterns? (interested in a lone female... for now)

~ZF