First clutch, so many newbie mistakes!

So to make a long story short, here's the highlights of my newbie mistakes that may have doomed my first clutch:

-Gave up looking for eggs 2 months after the last pairing, found 8 eggs 2 weeks later. Hadn't checked female for about 4 days.
-Did not have the incubator set up, took a day to set up and a checked temps for 1 day before putting eggs in.
-put holes in my egg box (from instructions I found online)
-did not check humidity, didn't want to be messing up temps by opening the incubator too much. Figured it was good if condensation was on the sides of the tub.
-had 2 power outages that I knew of lasting over 2 hours each.

Ended up losing 2 eggs early on, was pretty much losing hope these eggs would make it. Well yesterday was day 45 that they had been in the incubator and there was one that was extremely caved in. From top and bottom. I candled it and saw some veins but because of how pinched it was I couldn't get a good look. I was sure the baby had passed at some point which was why it was caved so severely. Figured I'd cut it open to take a peek. Made sure to watch veins and cut shallow. Looked in and the liquid looked cloudy and didn't see any movement, so I just chock it up to having passed. Put it back in the incubator with a damp paper towel over it because I knew my husband would want to see.

Well a few hours later I pull the egg out to show my husband and I see the head! It wasn't there before so it either shifted when the egg opened up or it was still alive. So we put it back in the tub and put the damp paper towel back over. Look in this morning and see this:
https://image.prntscr.com/image/Z7c6...oVr5Ug0xGA.jpg

So as I mentioned before, I dont know exactly when this clutch was laid, but I cut this egg at day 45 after I found them. Can you tell by the picture if he might make it? I'm worried that he looks a little under developed, but I also plan to cut a slit in the rest of the clutch closer to time because the eggs feel pretty tough from low humidity and I'm afraid the babies won't be able to break through on their own?


Bonus story:
4 months after the last pairing and I'm sure that the other 2 aren't Gravid. Well I noticed my Albino Clown had pushed her hide forward and was hanging out on the warm side. Not unlike her so I leave her be. A few days later I pull her tub out to do a spot check and find this:
https://image.prntscr.com/image/SS_F...5hzpK4rHZg.jpg
Needless to say I'm checking the 3rd girl twice a day now :mad:

My wife said "Every breeder doesn't check their snakes every day"... I told her good ones do and the ones with 1000+ snakes pay people to do it. Make sure you peek your head in daily. Good luck with them...

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Originally Posted by ElliotNess

My wife said "Every breeder doesn't check their snakes every day"... I told her good ones do and the ones with 1000+ snakes pay people to do it. Make sure you peek your head in daily. Good luck with them...

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LOL. My gravid girls are checked on at least four times a day as they begin to reach critical mass. It is always the very first thing I do in the morning immediately followed by checking to see if any clutches have piped. Even my kids look to see if there are eggs yet.

OP... Congrats. Leave the one in the egg that you cut, it should come out on it's own. If the egg starts to stink (they will if they are open to long), PM me and I will explain what to do.

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Originally Posted by JodanOrNoDan

LOL. My gravid girls are checked on at least four times a day as they begin to reach critical mass. It is always the very first thing I do in the morning immediately followed by checking to see if any clutches have piped. Even my kids look to see if there are eggs yet.

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I don't have any gravid but I check daily. Would you let your dog sit in a bowl of crap or urine. I am not in this for the worlds 1st or to make money, I love snakes and want them to live in the best conditions possible. So whether or not the wife thinks I need to do it daily, I do it daily, sometimes 3 times... shhhhhh she doesn't see those.

Aww that's a shame the one egg was cut so early. Hopefully the baby makes it. I don't advise cutting anything until you see others pip.
I hope the other clutch does okay as well!
I've only had one BP clutch so far but the entire process took much longer than I was expecting. Definitely a learning experience. At least you know for next season to expect the unexpected!
good luck

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Originally Posted by ElliotNess

I don't have any gravid but I check daily. Would you let your dog sit in a bowl of crap or urine. I am not in this for the worlds 1st or to make money, I love snakes and want them to live in the best conditions possible. So whether or not the wife thinks I need to do it daily, I do it daily, sometimes 3 times... shhhhhh she doesn't see those.

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Yeah, I hear you. All of mine are checked daily and cleaned when there is something to clean. Gravid girls and hatchlings are special though. I like to separate my eggs which is next to impossible if the clutch sits too long. Hatchlings are handled for a few minutes daily.

Well I care for my snakes solo, and I was checking them multiple times a day for 6 months specifically looking for eggs or checking follicles. As i said i only slacked off when i assumed there just weren't going to be any eggs laid. Sorry I guess for not knowing what to look for?

I mean I get it, I made mistakes. This is my first time and all the reading and research isn't going to make someone an expert. I'll be more diligent in the future, but berating me without even giving any actual input on the questions posted isn't really helping anyone.

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Originally Posted by Insane

Well I care for my snakes solo, and I was checking them multiple times a day for 6 months specifically looking for eggs or checking follicles. As i said i only slacked off when i assumed there just weren't going to be any eggs laid. Sorry I guess for not knowing what to look for?

I mean I get it, I made mistakes. This is my first time and all the reading and research isn't going to make someone an expert. I'll be more diligent in the future, but berating me without even giving any actual input on the questions posted isn't really helping anyone.

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Nah, you did good. No one is giving you a hard time. Most people would have probably lost that first clutch. We are making fun of our own obsessions, and in my case my entire family has the same obsession.

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Originally Posted by JodanOrNoDan

Nah, you did good. No one is giving you a hard time. Most people would have probably lost that first clutch. We are making fun of our own obsessions, and in my case my entire family has the same obsession.

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Thanks for clarifying, I took it as more of a "you should have been checking them multiple times the whole time" accusation. The first clutch was really just bad timing. I check all my snakes daily, but sometimes it's a look through the tub and if the paper is clean I don't bother getting hands on. When that clutch was laid I had salmon fever so I was out on the river most of the time trying to get the freezer filled for Winter. I went longer than i usually do with just the peek through the tub spot cleaning.

As for the clown she was so tightly wrapped around hers I didn't notice them. As you can see her paper is still clean so I never had a reason to move her and it had been so long since her last pairing I was sure she wasn't Gravid. Every time I held her I never felt any eggs and she didn't look any bigger than usual.

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Originally Posted by Insane

Thanks for clarifying, I took it as more of a "you should have been checking them multiple times the whole time" accusation. The first clutch was really just bad timing. I check all my snakes daily, but sometimes it's a look through the tub and if the paper is clean I don't bother getting hands on. When that clutch was laid I had salmon fever so I was out on the river most of the time trying to get the freezer filled for Winter. I went longer than i usually do with just the peek through the tub spot cleaning.

As for the clown she was so tightly wrapped around hers I didn't notice them. As you can see her paper is still clean so I never had a reason to move her and it had been so long since her last pairing I was sure she wasn't Gravid. Every time I held her I never felt any eggs and she didn't look any bigger than usual.

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Well, you have learned a couple things for next season. Keeping balls in Alaska must be tough. I had my fill of cold years ago. I haven't ventured north of the mason-dixon for a long time.

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Originally Posted by AbsoluteApril

Aww that's a shame the one egg was cut so early. Hopefully the baby makes it. I don't advise cutting anything until you see others pip.
I hope the other clutch does okay as well!
I've only had one BP clutch so far but the entire process took much longer than I was expecting. Definitely a learning experience. At least you know for next season to expect the unexpected!
good luck

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Next season I will definitely be more vigilant. Being this was my first year I just assumed something about my setup must have been off.

I had looked online for caved eggs and the ones I found that weren't even as bad as this one reported that the babies didn't make it. I wish I had taken a picture of it before I cut, but it was stuck in a pocket that was about 1/4th the size of the egg. I figured I can take a chance or wait and possibly lose it because the baby had no room to move to try and pip. Although I don't plan to do this, I did watch a video of a big BP breeder that mentioned they cut 12 days before hatch date without issue, so hopefully 10 days (or less) before won't be to much for this little guy.

As for cutting the rest, as I mentioned my humidity was not kept up well and I've read that this tends to make the shells tough and that the babies may not be able to break through on their own. I only plan to make a small slit in the shell and let the babies find it when they need too. Im also waiting until Saturday evening to do this, that will put the eggs at day 49 when I found them, so probably 50-52 days since laid.

I'm with AA. I don't cut until first pip. This year it was good that I cut because one had a twisted umbilicus and was not absorbing yolk. You have extenuating circumstances, so what you plan to do appears to be sound.

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cut 12 days before hatch date without issue, so hopefully 10 days (or less) before won't be to much for this little guy.

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And while it works in most cases you open the door for more issues than you think dryness, bacteria etc.

Ideally you want to know when your eggs should hatch and either cut on that day if nothing pips or wait till one pip and than cut. After running the same setup for the last couple of years I know that my egg hatch on day 60 (like clockwork) so on day 60 if nothing pips I will cut but not before and they will come out withing the next 24 to 48 hours.

My biggest issue is I don't know exactly when these eggs were laid, and as mentioned my humidity wasn't ideal, so I'm afraid the babies won't be able to cut through the shells on their own. I've learned from my mistakes on this first clutch and I'm monitoring clutch 2 more closely so hopefully I can avoid these issues in the future.

So an update to the cut baby. Since posting this I've been keeping a close eye on him. He kept his head out of the egg most of the time and I could see him through the tub being pretty active. This afternoon he crawled completely out of the egg.

I set him up in his own tub with a wet paper towel and put him back in the incubator for now. He weighed 43 grams, is very alert, and has been roaming his new tub. Looking at the pictures, is there anything that I should be concerned about? I'm assuming the mass that was left over is what was left of his yolk sack, is that a lot to be left over for a new hatchling? Or is it something else entirely?
I planned to cut the other eggs on the 1st (at least day 52, most likely 54/55) but since he had already crawled out on his own should I still wait that long or should I assume that the others may be ready to go as Well? I'm just very paranoid that if I wait too long they may drown in the egg.

https://image.prntscr.com/image/SeF1...4ZugqR3eDg.jpg
https://image.prntscr.com/image/1dQo...fGu6PlmI_A.jpg
https://image.prntscr.com/image/hVPe...Y3d0gPzDBA.jpg

Your hatchling looks OK to me. Maybe a little on the small side, but not underdeveloped, and I've seen much smaller hatchlings than that do just fine. The umbilicus area on the belly looks clean. They don't always absorb all of the yolk sac, and you can tell by the plump belly that it did absorb a good amount of its yolk.

I had a clutch a few years ago (my 2nd clutch) that caved horribly before hatching. My big pastel girl Honey stopped eating shortly are breeding and refused all food until after she laid an 8 egg clutch. The eggs were ugly to begin with, I assume they were not fully calcified due to the feeding strike. The pre-hatch picture is from day 53 at 87.5°F, all the hatchlings came out fine by day 59. I can't quite remember but I think I did cut at least a few of them, because I was afraid that the shells were too hard for them to get through.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...382a0d71a7.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...504935037d.jpg

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Originally Posted by Insane

Well I care for my snakes solo, and I was checking them multiple times a day for 6 months specifically looking for eggs or checking follicles. As i said i only slacked off when i assumed there just weren't going to be any eggs laid. Sorry I guess for not knowing what to look for?

I mean I get it, I made mistakes. This is my first time and all the reading and research isn't going to make someone an expert. I'll be more diligent in the future, but berating me without even giving any actual input on the questions posted isn't really helping anyone.

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It's happened to me with my Burmese girl lol I didn't know she was gravid and she was even taking meals through the entire process. When I opened her cage a few days after I fed her, she was sitting on a big pile of eggs! I also didn't have an incubator and had to go buy materials to make one a day or 2 later. This was my first clutch ever too. We all make mistakes and as a first time breeder it's difficult to know what to look for right away. Good Luck With the clutches! Hope you hatch out some amazing babies!

Sent from my SM-S120VL using Tapatalk

i spot check and temp check multiple times a day whether gravid or not,better safe than sorry?

Well either my incubator is running higher in the egg box than I thought, or the clutch was older than I thought when I found it. Was checking the clutch last night and one egg had multiple strike marks in it. Looks like it had been trying to break through and managed to get one tiny cut out of about 6 attempts. So I went ahead and cut the clutch and so far one baby has poked his head out. I didn't mess with them too much after cutting, just put a piece of damp paper towel over the cut to help keep humidity in. So looks like they might be getting ready to exit soon! I can't wait to see what comes out! Hopefully 5 healthy and happy snakes :please:

Less than 24 hours since cutting and number 2 is out! 65 grams :)

https://image.prntscr.com/image/TS7m...nIvB8Tvtew.jpg

Fingers crossed I'll see some more activity from the other 4 soon!

Number 3 is out! 61 grams. When number 2 came out it was shortly after the cut and there was no yolk left after, but it took a couple days for number 3 to come out and the other 3 don't seem to be in much of a hurry. Is it normal for it to take a few days for the whole clutch to come out?

I think I hit a Pastave GHI on this one? The head looks pretty blushed out, but I don't want to get my hopes up since im not 100% on morph ID. Can i get a second opinion?

https://image.prntscr.com/image/thGS...7a8U8d86YQ.jpg

It is normal for it take a couple days, but once the fluid starts to stink I take matters into my own hands.

Sorry that I can't help you with the ID. I don't work with GHI. Beautiful animal. I want to see that one after the shed.

Number 4 is out at 57 grams. After seeing this one I'm positive number 3 is a pastave GHI. Of the two remaining, one should be coming out by tomorrow but the other doesn't look like he wants to come out anytime soon. Will be so happy when they have all come out. I've been worrying over this clutch since the day I found it x_X I'll definitely be more prepared for future clutches.

https://image.prntscr.com/image/SkCn...sUZsOwqu2A.jpg