Weirdness In The Eggs / When Is It Safe To Remove A Live Baby?
Hello helpful friends. Looking for some advice.
Every clutch I have hatched this year has pipped on day 53. Up till now.
My Black Pastel Het Albino to Black Pastel Het Albino clutch ran to day 57 without a sign.
My husband and I sliced the eggs on day 57 to see what was going on. Looks like 4 healthy hatchlings and two big ?
Predictably both hatchlings are supers. The one is a super black pastel, the other a blizzard ball. Both looked a little strange in the egg. We could see neither head and the bodies seemed off. Now, we've two other deformity issues this year, one fused hatchling, and one a two headed fusion that we suspect was a malformed set of twins. Both were in our first clutch of the season so we've been a little panicky about anything that looks odd. We've had a few others that looked strange only to turn out to be perfectly normal and healthy hatchlings.
I should state that we incubate at a steady and well circulated 88 to 89 degrees. No spikes or dips that I know of, though it is a new incubator this year.
It is now day 59 and none of the hatchlings are out yet. The super BP has flipped around and we can see his head now. It looks to be in one piece. However, it's body still looks odd, and it hasn't stuck its head up yet out of the yolk. The blizzard is still the same, no face to be seen, swirled up in its vertical egg.
Both snakes are still alive.
The question is, when is it permissible to remove them from the eggs to see what's going on? They both have quite a bit of yolk left to consume, but I worry about umbilicus tangling or masses or anything else I can help, especially considering their genetics and the blizzard being in a vertical egg. Could I possibly tilt the vertical blizzard down to slice it more and see better what's going on? At what point should they be removed from their eggs? I know we are not to that point yet, but I like to plan for the future.
We knew the risks of the genes when we bred them with the blizzard being one of our dream snakes when we began 7 years ago. Anything I can do to help the situation, I will do.
Re: Weirdness In The Eggs / When Is It Safe To Remove A Live Baby?
I normally leave them be ( aside from cleaning gunk and misting if the eggs look low on fluid ) after I cut - they normally rotate to face upright just before they would normally have pipped.
It comes down to balancing the risks sadly. pulling them around can lead to tangled umbilicals and the like - but if they are deformed or not going to make it anyway then waiting won't hurt anymore than helping. :(