Why keep hatchlings together until shed?

I could have swore there was a thread on this fairly recently but I'm TERRIBLE with the search function (it always tells me there is nothing or the criteria are too broad).


Why keep hatchlings together in the same tub until they shed? Is there any reason not to separate them out of the egg box? Do people keep them in the egg box for a while for any specific reason?

I feel like I should be giving them some water in a bowl in the egg box. Yes?

Thanks

Considering that my first clutch is due to be LAID this week, take this with a grain of salt.

I plan on separating hatchlings from the moment they exit the egg. I want to be able to know who was the first/second/third to the leave the egg (for my own ID# for each hatching), who has shed (definitively), if anyone has any issues (like hard belly, difficulty shedding, etc), and just because I want to get them cleaned up and sexed so I can put together their record cards before I have to start feeding them.

I think it's all about personal choice. I remember the thread you are talking about and I think most wash the goop off and put them into another box of wet paper towels with a bowl of water and then put them back in the incubator until they shed.

Well, you have to keep them a little moist. And it's easier to keep one paper towel moist rather than five or seven or whatever.

And hatchlings fresh out of the eggs often seem to have second thoughts about the whole hatching thing, and spend a lot of time balled up. I swear piling together and using each other as hides helps them destress. I can't PROVE IT, but they seem a little happier together.

Anyway, they aren't eating yet. So they aren't any kind of a danger to each other. So, might as well.

I've spoke with several breeders that do it and they seem to get their babies eating the fastest so I figured I'd follow suit. In my personal experience they eat faster when you leave them all together until they shed and then separate them. Eating sooner to me means they are more comfortable. Call me crazy, but it makes sense!

As far as water goes, I've seen some people put in a water bowel. I just mist them and soak the paper towel they are on.

Once they are all out of the eggs and on paper towels, I give them a water bowl.
I don't know if they would even drink but I feel wrong if they didn't have it. Plus it helps keep the humidity up some.

I keep them together as well and give them a water bowl. I think it is personal preference but it works and I only have to manage one tub for a week or so.

If you are worried of keeping track who hatched first etc. Make cards that distinguish each snake by their dorsal markings from head down (kind of like Ralph Davis does after they shed). This way when they do shed out you can move them to individual tubs and still have the stats you wanted. Just a thought.

I do give them a water bowl. I've seen them flop around in it like lab puppies in a kiddie pool. Sometimes they put their heads underwater and blow bubbles and that freaks me out a little. But it seems to make them happy. And I'm all about keeping hatchlings happy.

Thanks all! I guess tomorrow I will move them to a tub together. I do enjoy seeing them all huddled together looking like a bowl of spaghetti.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by loonunit

Sometimes they put their heads underwater and blow bubbles and that freaks me out a little.

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This is how Bubbles got her name, although it took me a minute to realize she was just playing and not actually suicidal.

I leave mine together until shed and give a water bowl. I use the small, shallow mason jars as a water dish.

My second clutch scared me once, 6 of 7 babies were piled on top of the water dish with a baby or two IN the dish. I was so scared one would drown, pushed down by the weight of the others. They were all fine but it freaked me out pretty good. I'm still not sure why they did that, their paper towels were plenty moist. Since being separated into their own tubs now have soaked. Weirdo snakes.

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