Hatchlings dieing several days after coming out of egg

[thatoneguy]

This is my first clutch and I understand not all hatchlings are going to make it, but I'm curios on how common this is.

I had 7 out of 10 survive coming out of the egg. Several days later I found a hatchling dead. I examined him and noticed he still had a piece of umbilical cord, while the others have already begun healing. I'm addition his lower half seemed swollen and his upper half was skinny. I also noticed what appeared to be signs of internal bleeding.

I figure it was a birth defect to the organs.

Several more days have passed and another hatchling had died, very similar appearance to the first but no signs of internal bleeding.

Of the 5 remaining hatchlings 4 have begun to shed, appear healthy. One of them nicknamed One Eye Willy (for obvious reasons.) I don't expect to make it as he is very skinny.

So my question is does this somewhat common or am I doing something wrong?

[Eric Alan]

What are you doing with the hatchlings once they're out of the egg?

[thatoneguy]

I've put them all together in the same tub with wet paper towels, 2 small hides and a small water bowl. Belly temp is right around 88 on the hot side

[Warren_Booth]

Did you cut the eggs? If so, at what day. What were your incubation temperatures?

Warren

[thatoneguy]

Did you cut the eggs? If so, at what day. What were your incubation temperatures?

Warren

I cut eggs day 62, incubation temps were 86-88. My concern is that my incubator temperature was fluctuating more then a few degrees. Next year I will definitely investing in a more reliable incubator

[Warren_Booth]

It is entirely possible that you cut too early, and depending on how much of a cut you made, and how much disturbance you created, you caused the babies to absorb their yolk faster than they were digesting it. The fat bellies is a sign of this and it can cause the yolk to harden, killing the baby without intervention, or simply death through the physiological stress that causes.

Warren

[Stewart_Reptiles]

There are so many possibilities a fluctuation of 2 degrees if that what you are talking about is not likely one of them.

I really don't encourage to cut until the first one pips to prevent exposure to bacteria because if cut too early that's what can happen, but what Warren mentionned is definitely a possibility as well, from the description it could be hard belly which can happen and is not an easy problem to fix when it does.

The truth is unless you have a necropsy performed you will stay in the dark.

Sometime they will seem perfect and die on you just like that, had a pastel years ago that died while constricti bg her very first meal.....ruptured aneurysm.

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[thatoneguy]

It is entirely possible that you cut too early, and depending on how much of a cut you made, and how much disturbance you created, you caused the babies to absorb their yolk faster than they were digesting it. The fat bellies is a sign of this and it can cause the yolk to harden, killing the baby without intervention, or simply death through the physiological stress that causes.

Warren

Thanks for the info, I cut because I had one baby attempt to pip but ended up drowning.

This was my first clutch so I probably disturbed them more then I should have.

Next year I will keep this in mind and avoid unnecessarily disturbing them, in addition to a better more stable incubator.