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Starter Incisions ( Poll)

Do you make starter incisions in eggs?

  • No I don't make any incisions in the eggs

    Votes: 41 66.1%

  • Yes, 24hrs after the first hatchling

    Votes: 4 6.5%

  • Yes, 48hrs after the first hatchling

    Votes: 3 4.8%

  • Yes, but with different timing than above

    Votes: 14 22.6%
  • Total voters
    62
ChristinaM

ChristinaM

Corn crazed Canuck
I just wondered what everyone's practice was with eggs that have not hatched after 24-48hrs. I know that Kathy's book suggests some breeders routinely make starter incisions in eggs that have not hatched within 24-48hrs, but I was wonderring how many actually do it, as well as HOW you do it without injuring the baby inside?
 
I wait until the third day (72 hours)after the first egg pips. Usually by waiting that long I avoid having to slit any eggs....but it happens.

Chris
 
Chris Olson said:
I wait until the third day (72 hours)after the first egg pips. Usually by waiting that long I avoid having to slit any eggs....but it happens.

Chris
Click to expand...


I agree with Chris...usually the third day. Most the time, however, I do not slit the eggs. Seems that the few I've helped out of the egg always seem to be the ones that are the most difficult to get going and in fact many times never do get going. Maybe they are doomed from the start and that is why they don't come out of the eggs? :shrugs:
 
If it isn't coming out on its own, it isn't coming out. The only slit I make is to find out why it may not have come out on its own.

D80
 
Agree with D80. If it can't even make it out of the egg, then there's some sort of fundamental problem. If you rescue it, it might be OK. On the other hand, there might be a problem that won't show up for months, years or even until the next generation. But there must be some reason. I let nature take its course.

Anyway, clutches of eggs can naturally take a long time to hatch. I had one clutch a while back that took a fortnight between the first and last hatchlings emerging. All healthy, all eaters - they just took their sweet time. Heaven knows how many I might have injured/killed by slitting the eggs a couple of days after the first one hatched.
 
I personally only slit if almost all of the clutch has slit and many are out, but there are a couple of unslit eggs. Usually there is a problem - they are kinked or some similar situation. But occasionally, they just didn't have an eggtooth and come right out with no problems.

We have little phorid carrion flies here. If the egg is slit too early and the baby takes too long, the flies lay eggs in the liquid of the egg, and maggots gets into it, killing the baby. So I have to be careful about slitting early.
 
I do the same as Kathy...only eggs that haven't slit on their own by the time most of the rest of the clutch have emerged. And those flies are a royal pain! I've managed to keep their number to a minimum, but it's impossible to totally eliminate them. Hubby found a product to use in the drains that has really helped alot. I'll try to remember to find out what it's called and to post it.
 
Out of the four clutches I've hatched so far, I've never slit an egg. I've also had quite a difference in hatch times between different eggs in the same clutch - I think due to slight temperature differences across my incubator - the last egg has hatched a week after the first pipped at least once. I wouldn't slit an egg unless it hadn't done anything say a week after all the others had hatched. So far I've been very lucky that all my fertile eggs have hatched into healthy babies, no kinks, no deformities, and I'm afraid that if I tried to interfere something would go wrong and I'd regret it.
 
I just feel that if it can't get out of the egg on it's own, there's something wrong with it and it shouldn't be out there in the gene pool. I've said the same thing about the chondros as almost all the breeders there pip once one has started hatching. I think it promotes a weak species. Of course, I haven't had my first clutch of chondro babies yet and maybe I would feel different about it if only one out of the clutch made it to the end. I'd hope that I'd stick to my convictions though.
 
Susan said:
I do the same as Kathy...only eggs that haven't slit on their own by the time most of the rest of the clutch have emerged. And those flies are a royal pain! I've managed to keep their number to a minimum, but it's impossible to totally eliminate them. Hubby found a product to use in the drains that has really helped alot. I'll try to remember to find out what it's called and to post it.
Click to expand...
Here's a link about the phorid fly with information on how to eliminate.

http://www.pestproducts.com/phoridfly.htm#Identification%20of%20Phorid%20Flies
 
Last year the first eggs to dent in never hatched... so this year i made a slit on the one that had dented in the most but had not yet hatched. After making the slit i got a sick feeling that i had made the slit too early. I went back and looked at my records and sure enough it was only day 58 and i had slit! I felt so dumb, my overzelousness had gotten the better of me- on day 60 eggs were pipping but not the slit egg- so on day 62 fearing i had slit too early and killed the snake i opened it even further only to see the snake move! I hadnt killed it afterall- finally the snake came out on day 65 and is by far my best feeder. I guess i got lucky? Anyways i learned a lot from the experience. I was carefull not to spill much egg fluid and at one point actually covered the slit with a moist sheet of toilet paper. The snake actually pipped through the toilet paper! :shrugs:
 
Yay! This is just the thread I need!

Okay... my first hatchling out of 20 eggs pipped on the 13th. 16 have hatched out so far, one egg is rotten & mouldy, two are currently pipping, and there is one that hasn't pipped yet. It's a large, plump, white egg (same as the others) and is obviously fertile (determined by candling). I'm thinking of waiting a couple more days before considering slitting. Yes? No?

Lisa
 
We don't slit the eggs, though we've only one clutch to base this off of - the one egg I did cut open last year was obviously no good and I did it to determine the reason behind it not serviving - and discovered that the 2 hatchlings inside were all fused together and to the shell of the egg. Quite gross really.

With the two clutches we already have on the ground I'm expecting at least a couple of days between pips because of how long it took our girl to lay the one clutch - nearly a week after the first egg dropped by the time she dropped the final 2 eggs. So, if the last two eggs live, I imagine they'd be later hatching then the rest - but I could be wrong.

I just don't feel the need to hurry the snakes along.

Jenn
 
I wait until all of the OTHER eggs have pipped, and none have pipped for 24 hours, and then I slit any that hasn't pipped yer. I slit, I'd guess, less that 0.1% of my eggs with that method.

KJ
 
KJUN's method sounds as good as any. In reality, it doesn't usually matter a lot. I don't think I have ever had one that hatched out healthy a week after the others, as somebody else mentioned (but anything is possible!). I usually find them dead if I wait more than a couple of days (at most) after most have hatched. But artificially slit eggs have been known to hatch out fine many days later IF you don't have Phorid flies getting into them.

Usually, the neonates that don't hatch on their own can't make it for some reason and so nothing will help. However, occasionally you can save the odd one that just didn't have the proper eggtooth or got in trouble hatching for some reason, but will be fine. But in my experience, that is the exception rather than the rule.
 
I voted for no slitting of eggs. I do slit them but as has been mentioned already only to see what the reason was and there is normally a very visually obvious reason. The thing is even if the little one grows and thrives that snake really should not be bred. The problem could be passed down and affect other generations and that cannot be a good thing. Kinked/deformed/ and lacking the correct instincts/tools to hatch are all things best avoided if natures example is anything to go by.
 
UKCryptid said:
lacking the correct instincts/tools to hatch are all things best avoided if natures example is anything to go by.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't that describe all of the albinos, striped, etc., too? I mean, they are lacking the tools to properly camouflage themselves, scare off potential predators, etc.....
:crazy02:
 
But they're not lacking the ability to hatch, and there ARE cases of albino animals of many kinds living fully productive lives in the wild, albino crows and blackbirds are relatively common here as far as albinism goes and they do fine, but you see far far fewer of them. So that's not really an issue there, we're talking about the eggs hatching not the animals living full, wild lives afterwards (which as just stated, is perfectly possible anyway, just less likely). If an albino animal is able to remain hidden when a predator is around then it's no different from the usual forms, it's just trickier for the animal to pull it off.
 
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