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To cut or not to cut??

O

OBSKURITYKID

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Hey, everyone!! Have not been on here in awhile. I currently have a clutch of gray-band eggs incubating. It has been 58 days and so far out of 10, 3 have hatched. 3 eggs have slits or are starting to get slits. The other ones look like they have these black lines starting to show up, as if the little guy might be tryng to slit the shell but can't. My question is, should I cut open the eggs that have not slit?? One egg looks like it might be starting to cave a bit and another is starting to get a bit darker, but is still nice and leathery. Do these sound bad?? Would you cut these or just wait?? This is my first batch of snake eggs ever, so I am new to this. I have done a lot of research, but there is only so much you can find. Looking forward to your responses!!
 
No, I think it would be fine to slit them. Just be careful not to go in too deep. I'm sure you know that. You can cut a little half circle, lift the flap and poke the snake to see if it moves. Just don't pull it out and always let them come completely out on their own. Even when they are sticking their heads out, if you force them out, they can die. I've made that mistake before.
 
Ok, so I poked them and they are not moving. Should they be? It still looks like there is quite a bit of yolk in the eggs. I hope they aren't goners.
 
Yeah, I think they are dead, but let me inform my friend DMong about this thread and see what he says. Leave them alone for the time being.
 
Well, I usually wait until after the second day after the first pips out to do any slicing. If you were VERY careful about just following the very surface of the shell when slitting and there is no movement in the snake when you gently poke them with a blunt object, they likely went close to full-term and died. This can happen for many different unknown reasons. I am betting that there are others that will be fine and hatch out on their own by tomorrow morning since some others are already out. After tomorrow, I might carefully slice the others open. But as Ross mentioned, only put a slice in them that they can poke their heads out, then rest and absorb the rest of their yolk, they will do the rest within another day or so and come all the way out on their own. Do not attempt to get them out of the egg at all, they can bleed to death very easily this way by rupturing delicate blood vessels that are still attached to their belly.

good luck with it....


~Doug
 
OHH!!

OH!,....almost forgot!........leave the ones alone in the box that you didn't notice move. If they are alive, they will stick their heads out by the morning too. If you keep spooking hatchlings when they are wanting to pip and stick their heads out, all they will keep doing is ducking back and hiding because they don't think it is safe to venture out. I have even known of some to go so far back into the egg, they got disoriented in the tight coils of the egg and actually drowned. So in other words, if by the morning all of them haven't at least pipped the egg and you don't see leaking slits and/or bubbles from them breathing, just carefully cut their surface about an inch long and leave them alone for another day or so. Then you should see more heads.


~Doug
 
I forgot to add. Some of these eggs where the snake wasn't moving inside already had slits in them. Maybe they are alive?? I am just gonna wait it out and see what happens. I read that gray-band eggs can take up to 70 days to hatch!! Thanks for the info by the way!!
 
Those ones with the slits are alive. They cut those slits with their egg tooth. You'll see yoke slowly oozing out of them and there will be bubbles (like Doug mentioned) on some of them. That is from the snake breathing, which means it has already had its head out a little but went back in. Those ones should be fine. Good luck with them.
 
RossCA said:
Those ones with the slits are alive. They cut those slits with their egg tooth. You'll see yoke slowly oozing out of them and there will be bubbles (like Doug mentioned) on some of them. That is from the snake breathing, which means it has already had its head out a little but went back in. Those ones should be fine. Good luck with them.
Click to expand...

That's right, Ross. Every time they feel the box or lid getting clunked around and messed with, it only makes them want to duck back down in the egg and prolong the process of coming out. When I have to mess with lids to check for heads sticking out, I either look through the side of the opaque plastic box, or SLOOOOWLY take the lid off without them noticing any distubance, then slowly and gently put the lid back down the same way.


~Doug
 
Yep, that's what I do, try to disturb them as little as possible. Sometimes I try to get pictures while they are piping, so I'll open the container as slow as possible and they will often keep their heads out. If they go back in, I just wait and sneak up real slow with the camera. But, I find that really interesting how that one you had went back in and got its self tangled up and drowned. That would be a very good reason just to observe them through a see through container. When you are new to it, its so hard not to observe them often.
 
Actually not that good. Out of 10 eggs, 7 went full term and never hatched. 3 came out just fine and are awesome looking. Out of the second clutch, 1 out of 5 hatched with no problems. The others all went full term and never hatched. They were all fully developed inside the egg, but dead. :-(
 
That's strange. I haven't heard of that happening to the majority of the clutch before, but then again, I'm not the most experienced.
 
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