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Egg to hatchling ratio

greymaiden

greymaiden

Love and Hisses
A few months ago I purchased a beautiful pair of candy cane corn snakes with the warning that the female might be gravid with a second clutch. Sure enough, she was! A few weeks after I bought them she laid seven eggs, one of which shriveled up after a few days (so we won't count that one).

Of the six that were left, three hatched today. One still looks good, like it might have a shot, so I'm going to leave it incubating for a few more days, but the other two went moldy.

A 50% hatch ratio seems pretty pathetic to me. Is this something I should be worried about? Could it be because it was a second clutch? Admittedly, the eggs were not well calcified from the beginning, which might be responsible for the ones that went moldy.

What is the normal egg to hatchling ratio that I should expect? I've been reading stories here and it seems to vary greatly.

Jamie Lynn
 
Well every good egg that was layed for me this season hatched so I guess I'm having some great luck. I think you can expect upwards of 90%+ good eggs to hatch.

I'd say factors such as the fact it was her 2nd clutch and a little stress from moving homes could be factors in the bad result.
 
I usually see about 80% hatch rate from my good eggs. I did notice this year (and it made me sad) that one of the eggs was sliced by the baby, but the little guy never pipped and ended up drowning. Beautiful little amel that one was...... :(
 
E. g. guttata said:
one of the eggs was sliced by the baby, but the little guy never pipped and ended up drowning. Beautiful little amel that one was...... :(
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What does it mean when you say the egg was sliced by the baby?
 
SnakeLuvrs said:
What does it mean when you say the egg was sliced by the baby?
Click to expand...

That's the point in time that the snakeling moves around in the egg and slices the shell with its egg tooth. That's also the point in time that the snakeling needs to start using its lungs, so if it doesn't slice the egg, or if it doesn't have the strength to pip, then the snake will drown in the fluid of the egg. In this case, the snake was slicing the egg open, but didn't have the strength to push through and ended up drowning. Like I said, poor little snake, pretty little amel that one was..... :(:(
 
E. g. guttata said:
That's the point in time that the snakeling moves around in the egg and slices the shell with its egg tooth. That's also the point in time that the snakeling needs to start using its lungs, so if it doesn't slice the egg, or if it doesn't have the strength to pip, then the snake will drown in the fluid of the egg. In this case, the snake was slicing the egg open, but didn't have the strength to push through and ended up drowning. Like I said, poor little snake, pretty little amel that one was..... :(:(
Click to expand...

My one failed egg (out of 43) this year was the same. Went full term but never made it out. :(

Most years I've tended to average around 50-60% hatching .... but I'm strictly an amatuer. I put a bit more thought into setting up the incubation area this year and it paid off. :)
 
We've heard of people actually slicing the eggs for the snakes if they haven't pipped to help the snake out...is this a good thing or even possible?
 
SnakeLuvrs said:
We've heard of people actually slicing the eggs for the snakes if they haven't pipped to help the snake out...is this a good thing or even possible?
Click to expand...

It's usually a last resort.

The only two I've ever sliced open myself were both ones I didn't think were going to manage by themselves. Which was wholly correct as they both turned out to be dead in the egg.

To be honest, if a hatchling tries, and fails, to pip itself, your timing would have to pretty damn amazing to pip for it at the right time. When it needs to pip, it needs to breathe so unless you get there at exactly the right time, it'll drown in the egg.
 
SnakeLuvrs said:
We've heard of people actually slicing the eggs for the snakes if they haven't pipped to help the snake out...is this a good thing or even possible?
Click to expand...

Slicing the egg is something that most try not to do. It's generally a last-ditch effort to help out snakes. There are some people who regularly slice their eggs the dya that they're scheduled to hatc, to make it easier for the snakes to get going. I would not reccomend this though. Bad things can happen.
 
E. g. guttata said:
Slicing the egg is something that most try not to do. It's generally a last-ditch effort to help out snakes. There are some people who regularly slice their eggs the dya that they're scheduled to hatc, to make it easier for the snakes to get going. I would not reccomend this though. Bad things can happen.
Click to expand...


ok thanks... since this is our first clutch, and unexpected (we bought her gravid and no one knew she was) we let the herps at the shop we bought her at take the clutch and incubate them... the "egg guy" there was telling us that he had to slice a few from another clutch... didnt know what it meant but sounded like it needed to be left to the pros... thanks, i wont be trying that
 
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