Very first pipper!

[Daigga]

Well it's day 62, and the first hatchling has poked it's way out of the egg! A gorgeous lesser, from a lesser bee x normal pairing.



Long wait, but not unexpected with the situation and incubator I had (I was expecting somewhere between 60 and 70 days, so this was about on the money). There's a bead of goo on on of the eggs in the container with the pipper, but otherwise no little noses, so I was thinking cutting those eggs would be safe. Since my incubator was so small I had to split the clutch up into 2 containers, with 4 up top and 3 on the bottom (there were 4, but one went bad and had to be removed pretty early on). Should I wait for a pip in the bottom container before cutting? Also, since the bins are so small, should I put the pippers in a different container to hatch out? I would use a 6 qt shoebox bin, but I would have to give it some other kind of heat since anything besides the tubs they're in just won't fit in the tiny incubator.

[Albert Clark]

Great work diaggia! I like that. We were on the close incubation schedule. Today was day 55 for me and I got two pipped already. Cool. Good luck. Beautiful lesser there to start you out.

[MidSouthMorphs]

Good luck and I hope you have some great odds. Let us know!

[ARBallMorphs]

grats!

[Daigga]

I cut the other 3 eggs that were in with the pipper, and it's looking like I've hit some good odds so far. They're pretty well in their goop and veins, but it looks like I have 2 lessers and 2 spiders as of now. Second opinions on the spiders would be appreciated, because either or both of them could be lesser bees for all I can tell through the goo. The markings I can see look pretty solid for a lesser bee, but I'm brand new at trying to identify babies fresh from the egg. I'm going to be waiting on a pip from the bottom container before I think about cutting those, just because of the temp fluctuation from top to bottom. So far so good!

[Daigga]

Sorry for the double post, but I am quite excited about these guys. As of this afternoon, that first pipper has come completely out of the egg. I popped the lid off the container to check on them, and this little guy raised his head up and was flicking his (or her) tongue at me like he was curious about me. Just to see what it would do, I put my finger down within reach, and this little guy flicked his tongue at me and then just rested his chin on my finger and stared up at me.

I think my heart melted a little bit.







Pretty sure the spiders are just spiders at this point, would be surprised if they turned out anything else. Also, is it normal for a hatchling to have a prolapsed cloaca? I picked up the one out of the egg to have a better look and could see the umbilical scar (I guess is what you'd call it?) and their little butt pudging out. I put them back pretty quick, but should I be concerned about it?