Unborn Snake! (warning graphic images)

Aw...sorry you lost an egg, but that is amazing! It's really fasinating to see at least one stage of the development. You can find developmental stages of human babies, and even some other mammals, but that is something that i haven't ever seen. Thanks for sharing the pics, and good luck with the rest of the clutches!! ^_^

sorry about the egg.

but thanks for sharing the pics. :)

very interesting post.

Amazing educational thread here, Tim! Thank you very much for sharing this with us. (And thanks for the warning in the thread title...always a thoughtful gesture! ;) )

very sad that the little one did not make it ,but the post and pics were very interesting...thanks for the post

I'm so sorry that it didn't make it. But it is kind of cool to see what they look like in the middle of development... Thank you so much for posting!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by muddoc

I took these pictures for those of you who may be interested. I initially was going tocall this a fetus, but after further study, I found out that that applies to mammals. If someone knows the term for a snake prior to it's birth, please let me know the correct term. For now I will still call it a snake.

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Fetus is not necessarily a mammalian term, but rather that of viviparous (a.k.a. live-bearing) animals. An unborn boa, for instance, is called a fetus. But those that are oviparous (egg-laying) there isn't really an equivalent term. Scientifically speaking, the unborn snake is called an embryo until birth, unlike viviparous which go from embryo to fetus. However many people do tend to call them fetus's all the same for lack of a better term, the EFSA (European Food Safety Administration), even calls an unborn snake a fetus when discussing food contact to oviparous eggs.

Those are some very interesting pictures, I would like to have seen it in person. As sad as it was to lose a suspected cinnamon, this is an interesting way to learn something from the loss.

Ben,
I do understand viviparous and oviparous. However, I couldn't find the equivalent term for the fetus. Thanks for the explanation, it was much appreciated. I knew somone would come along and help me out. I agree on the interesting way to learn. I believe that if something bad happens, then try to make the best of it. What better way to learn than to turn around a bad situation. I also recently cut open a snake that I had that died, that was a recomendation of Adam's, to learn more about my snakes, and also to see if I could pinpoint a cause of death. (it appears that she had a hemorage near her heart) I always enjoy learning something new, however it comes to be.

Once again, I'm glad that everyone was able to learn a little something from this post.

Tim,


Did that egg look like a slug from the beginning? And how big was it? I have not tried candeling anyof the slugs yet, so I would be curious to see if any veins show up at all.

Neil

Neil,
It did not look like a slug. It looked like a perfectly good egg from the outside. It was about 90 grams like he rest. It just didn't have the strength to fight the good fight I guess.

OK, well thats too bad that he did not make it. The pics are interesting though, I guess its a good reminder that things can and do go wrong during development.


Neil