Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've always wondered this question: When one snake (this case ball python) starts to hatch, does that cause fellow clutch mates to hatch as well? With movement, viberations, etc being felt by others of the clutch.
My experiment: I had a clutch of PastelxNormal laid on 6/16/05. Six eggs total. I set these up like usual, in a 10 quart container, vermiculite and acrylic top.
On 6/23/05 I had a normal bred by my Labyrinth drop only two eggs. Only one egg was fertile. Did I want to set up another 10 quart container for one egg? It was the last clutch of the season, and was running low on containers.
What I did, and why I did it was to prove or disprove my theory on hatching snakes causing others to hatch.
I placed the single egg in with the Pastel clutch... along side the other six eggs.
The eggs were exatcly one week apart in age. What would happen? Would the pastel clutch hatch and the other egg one week later? Or, would it hatch right along with the others?
So, I waited.....
On 8-12-05 the first Pastel clutch egg piped at 2:20am in the morning.. give or take 1/2 hour... by 3pm that afternoon, all but one had piped, and by 6pm, all six eggs had piped.
The single egg that I placed in them had not.
But.... on 8-13-05 at 9:30am the egg had piped and the baby had it's head and most of it's neck exposed from the egg.
A full week ahead of schedule.
It is currently still in the egg, for each time I look at him/her, she ducks back in.
I have one clutch left to hatch this season, a pastelxpastel clutch. It is due to hatch the day I leave for Daytona. Next Thrusday. I am thinking of placing the hatchling in that container to see what happens to those four eggs.
Does anyone care to share their thoughts? I find this very interesting. Thanks for reading my post.
Link

Well - there was someone last season that was selling some albinos (I think) that all pipped at the same time while his trailer was pitching around in the middle of a hurricane.

In my one clutch there was a three day spread between the first pip and the last - and that was with the hatchlings and mom crawling over them and to be honest my boys and I poked at them quite frequently to trying to coax them to come out.

So I don't know - possibly that one was just ready, an early pipper. Maybe because it was the only one from the clutch it was bigger and healthier than one from the larger clutch? Or maybe it did have something to do with the rest pipping.

Who knows - good luck with testing your theory!
-----
Tosha

"One of these days i am going to wake up..look around...and realize my place looks more like "Ace Venturas"s than my own." Coldthumb

7.33.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Dessert Tortoise (Pope John Paul "JP"
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.2 frogs rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.1 lizard rescued from vicious feline

I know with Veild Chams, if you put the eggs too close in a tub it can cause them all to hatch out the same day, and if you space them out more it may take several days or a week for them all to hatch. I think "prey" are programed to do that to ensure the survival of at least a few when they crawl out of the ground and have a bunch of predators waiting to munch on them.

As with any scientific experiment, it is worth a second try. There is always the possibility of a fluke or of something you expected. There's also the possibility of the unexpected which could be good or bad, but usually makes the most significant discovery. Best way to find out is to try several times and see a pattern or lack there of.