Day 51...eggs are collapsed A LOT

just wanting your guys' opinions on these eggs.

tomorrow will be day 52. the beginning of incubation was a bit rocky as i had to change from my hovabator to a different incubator due to temp swings, which was giving WAY too much humidity. they've made it this far, though.

i did candle tonight (it was difficult to get the proper angles to shine the light in), but all babies are still moving inside a bit.

to me it just seems like the eggs have collapsed TOO much? does this look normal right before hatch time?

i've dampened a few layers of paper towel and left it in the incubator to warm up for awhile, i was going to put it over the eggs before bed tonight but i was afraid the paper towel will scared them if they do slit the eggs in the night.

ACK MY NERVES!!!!

http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...e/7f0cd2fa.jpg
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http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...e/29bb9ec8.jpg
http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...e/979d67e2.jpg

They do look a little to deflated. But at day 53 they should start to do that anyway. As long as the babies are still moving I think your ok. Just when you see the first one pip it may be a good idea to cut the rest if they continue to shrivel up. Good luck and post some pics when they hatch.

Yeah I may cut them after one pips, I'm just scared they won't pip!

No noses this morning :(

any news dude?

Your humidity level is low as it is, which resulted is over deflation. The lil lumps you see on the egg is due to eggs drying out.

Add some water to the vermiculite, and cut the eggs. When eggs get dry like this, their harder and the egg tooth cant cut it well to get out.

The lil bumps were there when she laid; I was told it could have been the momma with low calcium.

I will add some water. If you remember I was having problems at first with way TOO MUCH humidity, let me see if I can dig up the thread.

I remember the thread.

Ive had eggs laid perfectly white and smooth. When moisture got low starting forming lumps casue egg was drying out.

Here is the other thread. I've turkey basted some warm-ish water into the vermiculite, going to wait a few hours and see what happens. Do you think these eggs are in any danger if I DON't cut them today?

Interesting! But yeah those lumps were literally there when I found the eggs, which can't have been more than 2-3 hours after she laid. I had a corn lay eggs like that too, but she double-clutched and hadnt been eating to well between eggs.

Anyways, I'm keeping my fingers crossed today

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SquamishSerpents

Here is the other thread. I've turkey basted some warm-ish water into the vermiculite, going to wait a few hours and see what happens. Do you think these eggs are in any danger if I DON't cut them today?

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Hard to tell. Day 51 is fine to cut, and you will know if everything is ok or not.

If you cut them, you will also know the eggs will feel tough and not soft(indication it was dry)

Are they softening up? If not, I would cut them.

If those were my eggs I would cut them. I cut mine on day 52 with no issues. Just make sure you keep the eggs wet once you cut them.

oops tried to add the link but i was on Tapatalk before and it wouldn't let me. here is the original thread where i was having humidity issues, for anybody else who is reading this and interested: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...w-much-is-okay

i am extremely nervous about cutting them...should i just gently slit along the ridges where the eggs have collapsed? i guess i need to take care not to cut into any veins? i really don't know if i want to cut them just yet, but i am afraid of losing them!

breaaaaaaaathe....

cut 3 eggs so far. all appear to be alive, as they twitched a bit when i shone the light on them. so far 2 mojo's and one normal. one mojo is still inside of a goo-sac with a very large vein laying over top, the normal looks about ready to come out, and the other mojo i can still see yolk.

i'm shaking, had to take a break.

and WOW you were right. there is no way the baby could have cut open those eggs with their egg-tooths (egg teeth?). it's like cutting leather.

okay. deep breaths. lol.

no good with out pics :D

3 mojos and a normal :)

but OMG i think i cut a freaking vein!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this is what i was afraid of. luckily i immediately found this thread http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...=1#post1126114

and i'm not hyperventilating. pics are coming right up. i've covered them with a wet paper towel.

good nice clutch to mate

perhaps it's 2 mojo's, 1 spider, 1 normal. will find out soon enough i guess.

pictures are coming but my computer is just having a minor freakout right now.

dum de dum freakout lol

they're not great pics, but i'm not messin' with them any further!

http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/a...t112011001.jpg

http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/a...t112011002.jpg

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cutting a vein wont hurt anything, The snakes have their own blood supply.

And yes, those eggs were extremely dehydrated

When you cut a nice clutch that still looks the same as day they were laid, they cut open like butter with a hot knife.

stunning dude :D

yep, they were definitely dehydrated because like i said, it was NOT easy to cut into the eggs. i think i did a real hack job, but it was too hard to cut them smoothly.

i guess i fussed too much in the beginning by removing the wet vermiculite and adding dry vermiculite. perhaps it would have been best if i just let the humidity stay in the tub.

i must say though, this is why i love breeding snakes so much. i'm constantly learning.

crazy ball, i am a dudette :)

i am resisting the huge urge to check on my babies.

i'm afraid that now they're "open" so to speak that they will just come out prematurely. is that a risk of cutting eggs? or do they know when it's time to emerge?

ETA: by the way, i just wanted to say thanks to everybody for all the support. MONSTER thanks to Rich, he's been around every one of my threads where i'm just a big ball of nerves. there's always a plethora of information, support, and encouragement on here (and other sites i am a member of).

the reptile community is a community like no other, and i'm honored to be a part of it!

bump, because i'm stressing. also impatient :P

Hoping you have good luck and healthy babies soon!! :)

thanks so much, my everythings are crossed...

Just check on them once a day or twice a day your choice.

They wont come out till their ready

i don't think i'm going to disturb them again until morning.

i haven't told my boyfriend yet that if all goes well we've got 3 morphs and a multi-sire clutch...he'll be stoked. so i'm really hoping that all of my sweet little babies make it out of the egg successfully. i would be heartbroken if something happened to them!

Aww man i just read this whole thread i was hoping to see some pretty baby snakes by the end of it!

Freaking too be continued =[

sorry to disappoint, lonest4r!

i'm always wielding a camera so rest assured that there will be plenty more photos! you can join my Facebook if you'd like: Squamish Serpents. Just send a message saying you're from BP.net!

They should be fine, just relax before your the one that doesn't make it to tomorrow. lol :D

Update us with some pics once they are out. :):)

i made it to tomorrow!! took a bottle of tequila and some sedatives but i made it! (joking)

but AHHHHHH i've been waiting so long for these babies to hatch and now i just want to glue their eggs back shut. i checked on the normal today by lifting up one of the egg-flaps and i can still see yolk, and i can still see that it's belly is not yet shut.

IS THAT OKAY!?!? i'm seriously just willing them not to come out for another week! it is so scary that i saw it's belly open like that, and i bet the rest are like that too since the normal looks most ready to come out. OMG.

god what am i going to do when i have to give birth to a real live human? can't even handle these eggs

Breeeaaaaathe.

The babies will know when it's time to come out. Just relax, as long as you don't disturb them too often, they shouldn't make any attempts to come out before they're darn well ready.

Just make sure that they stay damp (I hear misting is a good method) and let them relax and chill out in their eggs while waiting for the yolk to finish absorbing.

i have misted them and placed some wet paper towels on top to keep them moist. that won't suffocate them, will it?

i'm going to check once again before bed and that's it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SquamishSerpents

Interesting! But yeah those lumps were literally there when I found the eggs, which can't have been more than 2-3 hours after she laid. I had a corn lay eggs like that too, but she double-clutched and hadnt been eating to well between eggs.

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^ Yeah, it looks like "snowflaking" to me. It's weird but just as it is with corn eggs, it's not an issue to worry about. It gives the eggs character. lol


Congrats on the new babies! Looking forward to out of egg pics! :)

I definitely agree with the "breathe" comment. Just relax and let things happen. When I cut at day 52 I usually mist them once or twice a day to keep the gunk out of the eggs and keep the babies moist. They aren't going to die just because you cut them at day 51. I personally think that if you didn't cut them they would have died, those eggs looked pretty hard.

As for the yolk and open bellies, that is totally normal. The veins in the sack around them and the yolk will start to absorb when they start breathing air. The belly usually closes up before they crawl out of the egg. If they have any deformities from the eggs having issues, then they may not soak up the yolk and their bellies may not close-that's what happened with mine last year. If they come out with their bellies open at all, it's not a huge deal. I had one this year whose belly was open a bit and part of the umbilical cord was dragging when it crawled out of the egg. It healed up fine on its own within a couple days. All I did was leave that baby on wet paper towels.

Just relax and stop worrying yourself sick!

just thought i'd update.

it's not good. :'(

so far 2/4 came out, one has what i would call a "cleft lip" deformity, the other was kinked at the tail. both of their bellies were open and had yolk hanging out, swollen bodies, and it didn't improve within 24 hours. they were just all around deformed. i've been crying all day, and my boyfriend had to euthanize and bury them. the mojo had beautiful coloring, and a perfect heart marking.

i am actually just ready to quit because obviously i did something to kill these snakes. they were too humid at the beginning, and i over compensated and removed too much humidity. and everybody else makes it seem so easy. i'm just devastated. bleep bleep bleep bleep.

thanks for everybodies help though, even if it didn't turn out the way i wanted.

Oh, I'm so, so sorry... :(

It's okay, things happen.. Mistakes happen, and so do deformities. Even a perfect clutch with the perfect set up can have a bad clutch that just doesn't make it. We learn from what happened and we move on. It's awful this happened, but remember that now they are not suffering and are at peace. If you ever choose to breed again, you know you will be ready. You've had a horrible experience that no one should ever have to go through, but that happens. We can't control everything that happens. Power outages happen during incubation, someone accidentally rolls the eggs, accidentally sprays too much, etc. Things get easier through time and experience.. They are never really easy the first time, because we're learning through every step.



-hug- I'm sorry it didn't turn out the way you wanted it to. I know there is nothing that can really be said to make things better, but we're here for you. :hug:

So sorry to heart that. I'm sure there is not much I can say to maker you feel better but these things happen, its a lesson for the future at worst.

thanks, guys. it's very hard but i will move forward. my boyfriend has been very supportive. originally i thought he'd be mad at me for messing up the snakes :(

third baby came out slightly kinked, with a massive yolk. the cord was knotted/wrapped right around the snake and the yolk was dangling between the snake and the cord. there was nothing i could do.

I'm so sorry. It's never easy losing them. :(

Knotted cords, can be cut and untied around baby if still alive. They have a good chance to still thrive but its hard to say with anything.

It's ok. I know it's hard to see that at the moment but this happens. We had a unexpected clutch from a female we bought. She was skinny and off heat when we get her. Also had an RI. We had no idea she was gravid and neither did her previous owner. She gave us 5 good eggs. All looked good until they hatched. 3 mojos 2 normals. The male mojo had an over bite and a stub tail, one female mojo had a stub tail, the other female mojo looked perfect but had some neurological problems ( kinda like a spider wobble). The male normal was fine but the female normal had no eyes. As of today we just lost the male mojo and the one female mojo with the stub tail. They never would eat and had to be assist fed. They both stared swelling up and died about 3 days ago. The other female mojo is eating great and growing. She still has some neurological problems and will always be a pet. Pretty eyes ( normal with no eyes ) eats great and does very well with getting around. The other normal was given away as a pet.
So we know how you feel. But things happen so don't get discouraged. Hang in there and try again next year!

I lost an 11 egg clutch because I didn't know what I was doing. 11 eggs. I thought I was doing things right, according to what I had seen here. I was doing things substrateless, I had the eggs in a basket suspended over 2 inches of water in the egg box, in the incubator. Despite the fact I was positive there was adequate humidity in the egg box { how could it be any higher than directly over water } all 11 eggs dried out and collapsed. And because I was inexperienced I listened to my husband when he said things were fine, and we lost ever single egg. Not one hatched. I was devastated.

But you live and you learn. When I got my next clutch, I used a hygrometer IN the egg box to monitor humidity. Imagine my surprise when the humidity in my egg box full of water never went above 40%!! The lid sealed so poorly, it let all the humidity escape.

I layered the lid with about 4 sheets of plastic wrap, taped to the outside of the lid. Put the lid back in place and watched the humidity skyrocket. As long as I watched the hygrometer, I aired the eggs about once a week, and replaced the plastic wrap when I noticed mold flecks on it. I hatched 5 perfect babies from those eggs. So I too, learned a lesson the hard way.

This year I got smart. Everyone seems to love this stuff called Hatch Rite, and it claims it's idiot proof, so I should be able to use it! :P So this year I'm going to try about half of my clutches with Hatch Rite, and the other half substrateless like my last ones.

Gale

I am so sorry to hear about your clutch. :( I can't even imagine how painful it is for you. I'm glad your boyfriend is being supportive. :hug: