richm2778
New member
Well... My first clutch was terrible. I hatched only 1 out of 13 eggs. Clutch #2 was not looking too much better. Last time, I had one pip and then I waited patiently for a few days before I realized that the remaining eggs had died. I sliced them open to see what went wrong and in 6 of the dead eggs, I found fully formed snakes that had somehow wrapped their unbilical cords around themselves and were seemingly unable to exit the egg at the right time.
This clutch, I was ready. When the first egg pipped, I waited 24 hours, then I slit the remaining eggs, none of which had pipped yet. After slitting them, I checked them every few hours and I saw 3 more noses poking out. Over night, the second baby crawled out of the egg and into the world. I now had 3 eggs left with snakes inside them, and they were not making an effort to leave the shells at all.
I very carefully enlarged the slit in the eggs, and in fact, I removed a substantial panel in order to give the snakes a large exit hole. Two out of the three left the eggs 3/4 of the way. At that point, they seemed to freeze and no longer attempt to get out. I very carefully opened the eggs and I was unfortunately not surprised. The snake that had not left the egg at all was dead. Strangled by it's own umbilicus. The other two were in trouble. They both had their umbilical cords and remaining tissue sac from inside the gg wrapped tightly around them. I had to do some surgery.
First, I took thread and tied off the umbilical cord about a millimeter or two away from the body of the snake. Once the knot was secure, I used small surgical scissors to cut off the remaining tissue and the majority of the umbilical cord. I rinsed the snakes off, and applied a small amount of Neosporin to the end of the remaining umbilical cord.
The first snake that underwent the procedure dropped the remaining umbilical cord this morning and seems fine. Snake #2 has not dropped the remaining cord yet, but seems to be doing very well. I have them all separated and in individual tupperwares with a moist paper towel as substrate. Please cross your fingers for me and the little ones as I let them have their first shed and then feed them their first meal.
Does anyone have any idea why the snakes in my clutches seem to be so prone to this difficulty? I would like to know if perhaps I am doing something incorrectly, but I have really made every effort to regulate temps and humidity levels. Everything seemed to be perfect. This season was not too great for me. 25 eggs in total. 10 of them were slugs. of the 15, only a total of 5 hatched alive. All in all, it was not a great experience, but I learned a tremendous amount from this and if I decide to breed again, I will certainly be on the lookout for this issue and hopefully rectify it much sooner and with less casualties.
rich
This clutch, I was ready. When the first egg pipped, I waited 24 hours, then I slit the remaining eggs, none of which had pipped yet. After slitting them, I checked them every few hours and I saw 3 more noses poking out. Over night, the second baby crawled out of the egg and into the world. I now had 3 eggs left with snakes inside them, and they were not making an effort to leave the shells at all.
I very carefully enlarged the slit in the eggs, and in fact, I removed a substantial panel in order to give the snakes a large exit hole. Two out of the three left the eggs 3/4 of the way. At that point, they seemed to freeze and no longer attempt to get out. I very carefully opened the eggs and I was unfortunately not surprised. The snake that had not left the egg at all was dead. Strangled by it's own umbilicus. The other two were in trouble. They both had their umbilical cords and remaining tissue sac from inside the gg wrapped tightly around them. I had to do some surgery.
First, I took thread and tied off the umbilical cord about a millimeter or two away from the body of the snake. Once the knot was secure, I used small surgical scissors to cut off the remaining tissue and the majority of the umbilical cord. I rinsed the snakes off, and applied a small amount of Neosporin to the end of the remaining umbilical cord.
The first snake that underwent the procedure dropped the remaining umbilical cord this morning and seems fine. Snake #2 has not dropped the remaining cord yet, but seems to be doing very well. I have them all separated and in individual tupperwares with a moist paper towel as substrate. Please cross your fingers for me and the little ones as I let them have their first shed and then feed them their first meal.
Does anyone have any idea why the snakes in my clutches seem to be so prone to this difficulty? I would like to know if perhaps I am doing something incorrectly, but I have really made every effort to regulate temps and humidity levels. Everything seemed to be perfect. This season was not too great for me. 25 eggs in total. 10 of them were slugs. of the 15, only a total of 5 hatched alive. All in all, it was not a great experience, but I learned a tremendous amount from this and if I decide to breed again, I will certainly be on the lookout for this issue and hopefully rectify it much sooner and with less casualties.
rich