HELP! Can a twisted umbilicus be helped?!

I've also heard of folks removing them from the egg, untwisting the umbilicus, and then putting them into a small wet deli cup to finish absorbing yolk. If the umbilicus can be untwisted, this apparently works.

I had to do the same thing this year. You do have to be careful not to tie it to tight. The string will cut the cord, and the animals could still bleed. Also I cut mine about an inch away from the body. That way chances of it getting sucked in are lower. Also make sure when you cut, your cutting on the right side. If you cut on the snake side of the string, you just tied off for nothing. The baby I had to do this with this year. Is nice and healthy today. She is a little small, but has started eating. You may notice that the ones you cut, will not shed as soon as the others do. The one I had it was almost 2 months or so. Before she had her first shed. They may also be alot weaker than they would be if they had absorbed all their yolk.

Tomorrow I am going to buy unflavored dental floss!!

Thanks for the awesome post Deb :gj:

On a twist around the body like that, cutting him loose like Deborah is excellent advice. If its just loops around once I usually pull the hatchling out untwist and then put back in the egg... if it begins to absorb the yolk you're golden. If not, you may still have to cut it loose after 24 hours or so.

Also, I've had a bit of trouble with using dental floss... only because if you pull it tightly it can cut right through the cord. If you cut a thin rubber band and use it as string that works extremely well in my experience.

Update:
I pulled both out of the egg and the twist was very minor, i was able to correct it without cutting the cord.
I put them back in the egg and made sure to get some distilled water on them. They have quite a but of yolk to go but this should help.
Hope they pull through ok.
Would it have been better to just put them in a deli cup with wet paper towels and placed them in the incubator, instead of back in the egg? At this point i think there's some bacteria growth on the eggs, they look slightly discolored.
Thanks guys for all the help, hopefully they do ok.

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Hope they are ok for you! *fingers crossed* We haven't bred yet, so I can't answer your question though. :)

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Yes, I agree, great job Deborah! Is there any way that this can be made into a sticky? We've had to do this once, but it's nice to have the step by step available with the pics.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mues155

Update:
I pulled both out of the egg and the twist was very minor, i was able to correct it without cutting the cord.
I put them back in the egg and made sure to get some distilled water on them. They have quite a but of yolk to go but this should help.
Hope they pull through ok.
Would it have been better to just put them in a deli cup with wet paper towels and placed them in the incubator, instead of back in the egg? At this point i think there's some bacteria growth on the eggs, they look slightly discolored.
Thanks guys for all the help, hopefully they do ok.

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At this point since you managed to untangle him without cutting I would suggest to have him in a deli cup (with some moist paper towel) to limit his movement and allow him to absorbed his yolk, if their is no signs of him absorbing it's yolk in the next 24/36 hours I would go ahead and cut the sac anyway.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Deborah

At this point since you managed to untangle him without cutting I would suggest to have him in a deli cup (with some moist paper towel) to limit his movement and allow him to absorbed his yolk, if their is no signs of him absorbing it's yolk in the next 24/36 hours I would go ahead and cut the sac anyway.

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Ok sounds good thank you so much!

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Wow thanks Deb!

And I agree with putting him in the paper towel. He can crawl right back out of the egg and drag the yolk everywhere.