Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My first clutch of corns was running a bit late this year 5 days late from 60 days, so I added so moisture to the moss that I had them in and lightly misted over the eggs as I was doing this. 3 hours later the eggs started to pip.
I thought this may be a fluke so when my next clutch went over by two days, I did it again and Bam later that afternoon the eggs started to pip.
My third clutch is do on Friday, if they have not started to pip on Sunday I will try it again and see if this is just a fluke or if it really helps the little guys pip their eggs.
Anyone else ever try this before, any experience with similar reactions to "rain".
Thanks
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Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com

sounds plausable.....

I had 2 ball clutches hatch a tad early when the electric went off one night a couple weeks ago....drop in temp may have triggered this...

drop in temp also will cause sweat to form on stuff.....

......let us know......

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i thought you were never ment to mist eggs due to blocking up the pores which allow the air to pass throughtfor the baby snakes to breath, i was told that if you mist the eggs, even a little, you are likly to kill the developing /developed baby ????

I keep my eggs in moss and the moss covers the egg completly. However the moss is not pack tight and there is plenty of air exchange, I have been hatching eggs this way for 20 years. But to get to your question I think that saying a bit of misting would kill eggs is just a bit to over stated. I am sure that in the wild here in South FL the Wild Eggs frequently get a bit of water on them. I would not soak the eggs and normally I don't mist the eggs, I would normally rewet the moss, but I also work with boas and misting has a birthing effect on them, so I thought I would see if it did on my Corns too, So far I am 2 for 2 in the misting/hatching with 100% hatching on all viable eggs. So no the misting the eggs did no harm.
thanks
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Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com

yea.I used to mist eggs all the time.I used to actually just dump cups of water right on ball eggs when they got dry....

I had no troubles......

we tell people DO NOT DO THIS ........and we mean it....

one of them "do not try this at home things"....

.......I now do not dump water on ball eggs.I let them sink in and look like crap.and I still get babies...

difference..they eat better now.....

eggs that are too wet can die....can get too fat and the inside pressure will screw up the babies.....

like balls...too fat too wet and they don't eat as well at times....(nothing is an "always"...).

.........IF he wets them right about the time before they hatch.and even drops temps..they will be ready to hatch and react........like he says..rainy season thoughts...

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.......good luck..........

do not try this at home.........

we are..well I am at least ready to accept the fact that I killed a bunch of snakes......by experimentation.....

yes...I had eggs die.....from various reasons (not wetting).

yes mold kills babies and makes them kinked at times...

yes........moldy eggs and rotten eggs will and do kill the eggs next to them....moreso if they are wett or damp...

this alone will make keeping them dryer a better ide when some get moldy spots.......

....great eggs do better on the dryer side as compared to on the wet side......

have fun
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By misting your eggs all you are doing is effectively increasing the amount of moister available to the eggs. The neonates inside do not know their egg shells are being misted...do they? So, please explain how adding moister to the egg shells will cause the babies to pip?
I keep my eggs relatively dry compared to most breeders but mist the walls and lid of the incubator every few days to supply the needed moister. The eggs of course will inadvertently get misted during this process. And the incubation period of my eggs falls right in line with those that do not mist kept at the same temperature. Supplying more moister through spraying or misting does not decrease the incubation period/length.

Well as I am sure you already understand, snake eggs exchage air from in and out of the egg, my thought (and they are my thoughts so take them with a grain of salt) is that many animals give birth during the rain, not just the rainy season, but actually during a rain shower. I have seen it with my own Boas, watched countless Nature shows saying the same thing. The main reason that I always hear them spout on TV is that the rain helps reduce the "new birth smell" giving that babies a chace to clear the area and away from preditors with the are either getting out of their birth sacs or eggs. I have heard some say that it is a drop in the pressure that triggers this, with the eggs, I really don't know, I have only tried it twice so far, if on Sunday my next group of eggs have not piped I will try it again to see if it works for a third clutch. I can only assume that the added pressure on the egg from the absorbed moisture may be a trigger, I don't know if I cause a pressure switch in the egg container itself by misting, I do not use an incubator for my corn snake eggs, never have I keep them at my snake room temp which is 79 degrees at night and 82 degrees during the day, no other heat is provided.
Although, this is my first year trying it (misting the eggs after the due date) it seems to make sense considering all the other animals that give birth during rain. I was just wondering if anyone else ever tried it
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Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com

Well there is no harm in trying it and see what happens.

"I do not use an incubator for my corn snake eggs, never have I keep them at my snake room temp which is 79 degrees at night and 82 degrees during the day, no other heat is provided."

I don't use a true incubator with heat either. Just a rubbermaid kept at room temperature. But anything you incubate eggs in can be called an incubator. I don't even use an incubation material like sphagnum moss or vermiculite. If you place your eggs in a container made to hold moisture what is the point of the incubation material? Isn't the incubation material there just to hold moisture too? lol. I've learned after 15 years of breeding that the eggs don't need it as long as the inside of the incubator is misted from time to time.

I honestly don't think misting them had any affect on pipping. I mist my eggs regularly with seemingly no affect on hatch dates. I think they were just ready to hatch and you happen to mist them beforehand. I believe temperature is the only influence on how long a clutch takes to hatch...and the genetics of the parents.

>>I honestly don't think misting them had any affect on pipping. I mist my eggs regularly with seemingly no affect on hatch dates. I think they were just ready to hatch and you happen to mist them beforehand. I believe temperature is the only influence on how long a clutch takes to hatch...and the genetics of the parents.

I think it was mentioned in one of the posts that the misting may drop the temperature of the egg so this would go along with your assesment that it has to do with temperature.
It is close to time for the eggs to hatch, they are misted and this drops the surface eggs of the eggs simulating a drop in temps coinciding with a spring or early summer rain.

This is all just speculation but it allows for both avenues of thought.
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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"resistance is futile"
Jimmy (draybar)

Draybars Snakes
Available

>>>>I honestly don't think misting them had any affect on pipping. I mist my eggs regularly with seemingly no affect on hatch dates. I think they were just ready to hatch and you happen to mist them beforehand. I believe temperature is the only influence on how long a clutch takes to hatch...and the genetics of the parents.
>>
>>I think it was mentioned in one of the posts that the misting may drop the temperature of the egg so this would go along with your assesment that it has to do with temperature.
>>It is close to time for the eggs to hatch, they are misted and this drops the surface eggs of the eggs simulating a drop in temps coinciding with a spring or early summer rain.
>>
>>This is all just speculation but it allows for both avenues of thought.
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Sorry the above statement "It is close to time for the eggs to hatch, they are misted and this drops the surface eggs of the eggs simulating a drop in temps coinciding with a spring or early summer rain" should obviously read
It is close to time for the eggs to hatch, they are misted and this drops the surface TEMPERATURE of the eggs simulating a drop in temps coinciding with a spring or early summer rain

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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"resistance is futile"
Jimmy (draybar)

Draybars Snakes
Available