SOS - Twisted umbilicus :(

I told you this was the clutch from hell!! Now I've noticed one of the babies has a twisted umbilicus, and I don't even know if he's still alive... I cut the top of the egg completely off, and he didn't move when I started poking at him. :( Should I pull him out, or what?? I read a few of the threads on twisted umbilici (sp?), but don't know if I should pull him out now. Help!!

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps1eacddb7.jpg

I would very gently take him out and try to untangle him. If you can't untangle then do like the other posts say and tie off the cord with wax free dental floss and cut the cord. Best of luck to you to you. Here is video link to Justin Kobylka's youtube video about how to do it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z84McnJQZWc&feature=plcp

Sadly, he was already dead when I pulled him out... pretty little snake, too. GAAAAHHHH this clutch is driving me nuts!!! :rage:

Sorry for your loss. :(

Thanks... he was so pretty too, with a nice stripe down his neck and really clean pattern. I took a couple of pics, but don't want to depress anyone with dead snake images (I know it upsets me when other people post those).

Sheesh, I can't believe out of 8 eggs it looks like I'll only get 2 babies. On a good note, the others look healthy and are starting to emerge now. Cross your fingers for them!

I hope your babies turn out good, I'm sorry six of them didn't make it that's sad. But I have fingers crossed on both hands for those two. There's no fingers crossed emoticon otherwise it would be here

That sucks, I had a clutch hatch out at a friend's place and I had a pastel wrapped up in its umbilical. Sadly I lost that one and of course it was beautiful, it was super bright and had a perfect stripe running down the dorsal. I'm sorry for your loss, but on the bright side karma owes you so next year should be awesome.

Thanks to both of you, and yeah, karma owes me big time! This whole season was a bust, with only one of the three girls I paired laying eggs - and then all the issues I've had with this clutch. Thought about taking a season off from breeding, but I do have some nice girls ready to go. Hmmph.

Anyway, I'm still optimistic about those two surviving spiders... this little guy has been popping in & out, and got all dirty from laying his head in the vermiculite for a minute. :rolleyes:

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...psa58fdacc.jpg

Sorry about the loss, hope the rest of the clutch is healthy.

Sorry for your loss. That other little guy looksike be is going to be nice, nice light clean looking head. :)

Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk 2

If you run into this situation again there is a solution. I had this issue with two hatchlings this season. I lost one because of my inability to act fast but I was able to save the second one. First I steriized myself, a pair of small scissiors, and placed paper towels out carefully to provide a clean surface. I carefully removed the hatchling from the egg entirely and untangled the umbilical. After that I carefully massaged the yolk sack to push some of the nutritional yolk into the hatchlings stomach. I kept pressure on the umbilical so that the yolk stayed inside the babies stomach. At this point I pulled 6-7" of waxed dental floss out and carefully tied the umbilical off about 1.5" from the snakes stomach. The distance is important as you don't want to do this too close or the dental floss could be pulled into the stomach as the umbilical heals. I trimmed the floss ends after tying it down to just a few little nubs and kept the snake in a Intensive Care Deli Cup. An Intensive Care Deli cup is a small cup with a few small holes and lots of paper towels to prevent excessive movement and retain moisture. I kept the paper towels almost wet for about 3-4 days. At this point the umbilical had started to dry and shrivel up so I placed the baby with the other hatchlings in the clutch on wet paper towels. The umbilical eventually fell off without incident and I'm proud to say that despite being a few days later to shed that the baby is thriving and has taken its first meal. I'm sorry to hear about your clutch but this might help you down the road.

Regards,

B

Sorry to hear about your loss looks like the remaining are doing well best wishes with the rest of the Clutch from hell :)

I the same thing as simple man with an albino last season my only difference was the little bugger poped the lid off and climbed the rest way up the incutbator and was laying on top of the tub with the other hatchlings. The best part was she was the first to eat and been doing great ever since.

Thanks all, and I'll save simple man's write-up for future reference! As of this morning, both of the survivors were pipped. They both keep scaring me, though, by flopping their heads onto the ground like they're dead... but they spring back into the egg when I poke them, so I guess they are just being weird like most spiders. :D Got to see the neck on that second baby, and he/she has a really sweet neck stripe - can't wait to see the rest of their bodies!