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What the Heck Is This???

richm2778

richm2778

New member
I woke up this morning and looked through the viewing window in my incubator and I found something really strange. The eggs look fine, but there is a piece of what appears to be organic matter between two of the eggs. It may be a little bit hard to see in the picture, but it appears to have the consistence of a piece of a sea scallop or something. It is wet, and it was not there last night when I went to bed. The incubator has been closed, and no one else has been in the room with it. Do any of you have any idea what the heck this could be? None of the eggs appear to have been disturbed either. Any answers that could shed a little light on this would be appreciated. It looks like meat or something. I would think maybe an egg went bad, but none of them are deflated or anything.
Rich
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OK. An Update. In the past 5 minutes or so, about 5 times as much as is visible in the picture has come out of the egg. From moving the substrate around it, I can see it is coming from a hole in the egg. It is definitely organic, and it is definitely alive. My humidity is right, and so is my temperature. My temps have been consistent between 81 and 82.5 and my humidity has been at 92%. I have had some difficulties, but both have been consistent for about 3 weeks or so. Here is the question: Is this egg going to die, or should I leave it in the incubator? I do not want it to contaminate other eggs in there, and I do not want to prematurely kill a snake. I have no idea how the whole got there in the egg other than it came from within it. Should I open the egg and try to help whatever is inside? Today is day 44, and rat snakes usually don't hatch until day 55 or so. Advice people? I need help!!!! Thank you!
 
New Update... As I sat and watched, the egg ruptured and a fully formed baby snake emerged. Unfortunately, the snake did not make it. He seemed to be alright, just a bit translucent and very small. I had hope for a moment, then he seemed to give up the ghost. I am sad. This is the first time anything like that has ever happened, and it is also the first time I have bred snakes. I still have 6 eggs from that clutch on the ground, so I am still hopeful that there will be 6 baby snakes in about 10 days or so. I am going to go mope for the rest of the day....

Oh yeah, my girl is due to drop another clutch any day now as well. I hope that things go well with that. I am bummed out.

Rich
 
I just wanted to say I am sorry that happened. This is my first year breeding as well and it is a really scary, stressful process (for us newbies)...I can only imagine how you felt today, so just wanted to say keep your chin up...I have read most of your postings and can tell you are trying your best. I hope everything turns out well for the rest of your babies. Good luck!
 
Thanks Gralena. I have been bummed but I learned a lesson from it. I can't say that it will never happen again, but I can tell you that this experience has taught me that I should never count my chickens... or snakes... before they hatch. I am still hoping to get the remaining 6 through the hatching process and move on to the next clutch with confidence and experience. Thanks for your kind thoughts.
 
So sorry to hear of the loss.

What you have described sounds like an egg that had a soft shell which was unable to withstand the pressure of the growing baby inside. I may be wrong but I am sure that you will receive other answers which will tell us more.

Ciao
 
As odd as it is, I had one do the same thing this year. I had been having trouble with the clutch going bad any way, but this egg looked perfectly fine. Then the other day I checked on them and found it doing just as you described except it was leaking from the end. Not long afterward, the egg opened and there was no way the baby would survive. Weak shell I guess. Strange things happen some times.
 
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