cut on dat 52 or 54?

Personally I would wait until the first one pips then cut the rest. Unless you feel like washing bacteria out of eggs for a week until they decide to come out. It is however your call and if your comfortable with your ability to keep them clean until they come out go ahead. Goodluck

There are plenty of threads on this forum where people who cut early had problems, some even losing full clutches. If you decide to cut, then wait until either after day 55 or until the first one pips. Cutting too early is a common mistake and one that leads inexperienced keepers to losing babies. I would NOT cut as early as day 52 if you are not experienced in dealing with bacteria in eggs. When you open that egg, you expose it to a warm moist environment that is a great breeding ground for bacteria and other problems.

I too only will cut when they pip. Most of my clutches this year all pip'd by day 54 and when 1 did they were almost all hrs apart.

Agreeing with the above. I would wait until the first one pips, and then cut if I felt the need to. I've seen too many horror stories of people getting impatient to cut and realizing after cutting that their clutch was not as developed as previously thought due to incubation issues (possible temperature drops without being aware of it, etc).

What's the problem with waiting a few extra days? Sure it's exciting, but the wait won't kill you. Like if you know you're getting presents from someone for your Birthday. You don't ask if you can 'just take a peek because you just can't wait'. No, you wait until the day. The present is still the same either way. It's just you who is affected by the time.

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Originally Posted by mykee

Bingo bang-O! The third option is don't cut at all, and if they are all meant to make it out on their own, they will. Cutting just weakens an already compromised ball python gene pool.
Most could care less about that fact because money money money!!!

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Snakes have been hatching and making it out on their own for thousands of years, but they have also been incubated by the mother. Now everyone (most) incubate themselves. There's a lot of room for human error. If a snake can't make it because of human incubation errors, then maybe it WAS meant to make it. Or maybe not.....

Bottom line is their your eggs. Cut them, don't cut them, it's up to you.

Probably the smart thing to do is to wait, at least until day 60. I always let it get to me. I can never wait. I've been cutting my eggs for the last 5 years with out a problem. Even when some stayed in the egg for longer than I had hoped for.

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Originally Posted by gsarchie

I don't intend to cut if I ever get eggs. Balls have been hatching on their own for hundreds of thousands of years and they don't need us to help them out.

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sounds like an incubator would be a waste of money to you also, since I never seen one of those in the wild either

A few thing. First I dont want this to turn into a huge argument over maternal incubation vs artificial incubation nor if they would survive vs die due to human intervention if they had never developed the egg tooth ect. Im going to stick to my original plan of cutting when the first pips. Now when I cut (after first pip) what needs to be done to keep the Bactria out of the eggs.

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Originally Posted by Raverthug

A few thing. First I dont want this to turn into a huge argument over maternal incubation vs artificial incubation nor if they would survive vs die due to human intervention if they had never developed the egg tooth ect. Im going to stick to my original plan of cutting when the first pips. Now when I cut (after first pip) what needs to be done to keep the Bactria out of the eggs.

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Nothing can really be done to keep bacteria from growing but it usually takes a couple days.I wouldnt worry about it too much if you cut after the 1st one pips since they will most likely be coming out of the egg very soon after. Put a bottle of distilled water in the incubator so it can warm up to the temps of the eggs and if you get alot of bacteria growing in the eggs just flush them out a little bit.

I do cut once I see a couple pips, but not before then.

The problem with cutting early is that sometimes the actual temperature in the egg box is a degree or two lower than the temperature where the probe is. Which effectively means you're cutting a day or two (or more!) earlier than you think you are... and that increases the cross section for bacteria and other bad things getting into the eggs' blood supply. And then you have to do the saline wash, and all this other extra stuff you normally wouldn't have to worry about.

If you really are going to cut at either day 52 or day 54, and there's no talking you out of it... then I vote day 54.

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Originally Posted by loonunit

I do cut once I see a couple pips, but not before then.

The problem with cutting early is that sometimes the actual temperature in the egg box is a degree or two lower than the temperature where the probe is. Which effectively means you're cutting a day or two (or more!) earlier than you think you are... and that increases the cross section for bacteria and other bad things getting into the eggs' blood supply. And then you have to do the saline wash, and all this other extra stuff you normally wouldn't have to worry about.

If you really are going to cut at either day 52 or day 54, and there's no talking you out of it... then I vote day 54.

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I was planning on cutting after the first pips but I guess being inpatient and curiosity got me so I put this up.