so turns out my thermometer in my incubator was off... by like 10 degrees!

Don't beat yourself up over this. We all make mistakes. Even that breeder who chewed you out has probably made a few mistakes in his lifetime. If it's who I think it is, he tends to be way over sarcastic and I've contemplated not following his page. Just do like everyone else on here is staying and hopefully you can save all the eggs.

i think maybe he is just used to people not taking his advice so he starts out on the offensive- I was just taken aback because I am fairly mild mannered and already felt really bad. I have read through more of his facebook posts and he does seem to belittle newbies -and justly so sometimes- I know some people can be really stupid, but I was just asking for help to try to save my snakes. anyways thanks- I will update as time goes on.

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Originally Posted by BHReptiles

Don't beat yourself up over this. We all make mistakes. Even that breeder who chewed you out has probably made a few mistakes in his lifetime. If it's who I think it is, he tends to be way over sarcastic and I've contemplated not following his page. Just do like everyone else on here is staying and hopefully you can save all the eggs.

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^This. Even if he hasn't made terrible mistakes with his snakes, surely he's made terrible mistakes at some point in life and someone somewhere would have already known better than to make the mistake he did. Most likely because they've done it themselves. It's only human... Don't let this deter you. Learn from it and move on. Pass the lesson on to others. At least you are trying to make it right and you've learned a harsh lesson. It's the ones that never learn that should not be breeding IMO.

Ok deep breath, it has been my experience that cooler temps don't seem to have as detrimental an effect on developing eggs as higher temps. With that said you've gotten some good advice so far leave the temps where they were and wait to see when they pip on their own. Secondly the egg that you cut depending on how big of a hole you made you can use things like liquid band-aid yo seal it back up, elmer's glue and a small bit of cling film can do the trick to, or if its just a small hole throw a band-aid on it. I've miss counted and cut eggs at day 45 instead of 55 or 60 and use the elmers glue and cling film to seal the egg back up. if by now they haven't died due to the lower temps then you should be good.. Remember this is all a learning experience even for me I learn something new every year about breeding these animals.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out for ya.

As for the temp gun, getting a read of 93 on your tongue hanging out of your mouth might not be so inaccurate. Your core body temperature may be 98.6, but evaporative cooling could explain a few degrees difference, for the same reason sweating cools you down. The best thing to do would be to test the gun against the reading from something you know to be accurate. Or, failing that, several things you suspect are accurate. Do you have a thermometer in your fridge? Test it against that, and the probe in your snake cages, et cetera.

Keep your hopes up and listen to all the great advice everyone has given you . We all make mistakes, the important thing is to learn from them. Great job to everyone helping and giving great advice.

I am honestly really bothered by how you were treated by that breeder. A breeder of that caliber is looked up to and as such should be more kind. I'm sorry you were treats poorly. That's unfair.

Behind that..

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Originally Posted by WifeOfSlasher

I am honestly really bothered by how you were treated by that breeder. A breeder of that caliber is looked up to and as such should be more kind. I'm sorry you were treats poorly. That's unfair.

Behind that..

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I agree. Big breeders should be helping the little guys become the best they can be, for the sake of the hobby, not just making them feel like idiots. That's NOT how to teach.

Beyond that... Even though I only have human breeding experience the Elmer's glue sounds like a risk. Being that its a water soluble product I would be concerned that it would mix with the albumin of the egg. I wouldn't do it.

Good luck with those little ones!!! I hope they all pull through for you.

Yeah... I didn't want to get smacked with a personal attack if the breeder is a member here.