Question about cutting eggs

When you cut the eggs open do you just cut the shell or do you cut the sack they are in also?

If you are not cutting too early there should not be a sack. The liquid is in the bottom. They will be in the lower liquid part of the egg and attatched to the yolk via umbilical cord. You just cut a flap in the top and you should be no where near the baby. When its time to pip they will have already broken the protective membrane around them and their yolk from moving around.

before you cut pinch a very little part of the egg, cut the pinch part that way you know you won't cut or nick the hatchling.

This may be a dumb question, but I see the cutting of eggs a lot on here. What is the reason for cutting the eggs? Why not let them be?
I have not bred pythons yet so thats new to me.

thanks,

Dave

A lot of the time its just anxiousness :P but there are more solid reason for cutting eggs. sometimes the hatchling for whatever reason cant cut thru the egg shell and sometimes drown inside the egg, babies also get twisted in the umbiclus and can die from inability to absorb their yolk or get strangled by their cord. in some of those situations cutting the egg could be the babies chance between life and death and a potential problem can be spotted before it becomes fatal.
but still really a lot of the time is just to see what you got before they actualy hatch most of the time the babys development is finished anyways so if done -properly- cutting eggs would generally have no ill effects on the hatchlings.

The reasons depend for everyone. I personally do not cut until the first baby pips on its own. Then I will cut a decent size slit in the others of that clutch. Just in case one of those babies lost its egg tooth early and would not be able to pip its own egg. On the chance that nothing pips on its own by day 55 I start to get very ansy. Any longer than that and I will cut them to see whats going on. Its really just a precautionary thing. Like the poster above said, you pinch one of the creases in the top of the egg, cut a tiny hole and go from there. A rounded "U" shaped flap is best. This way you can close it back so the baby doesn't come out before the yolk is absorbed. Some people cut too early and some people will butcher the egg so the entire top comes off. IMO this is not the way to do it if you want the baby to stay in the egg long enough and not dry out in the process. First you can candle it to be sure where most of the mass is. Its usually in the bottom half but can be off to one side as well. Some people use a straight razor but this freaks me out. I use a tiny pair of rounded tip cuticle scissors. That way there is no danger of accidentally stabbing an active baby. They do move around alot in the last couple weeks of incubation.

Thanks for the detailed answers guys! Still have a question or two, but will start a new thread. Did not mean to hijack this one! :oops: