To cut or not to cut

So guys it’s coming up to that time for hatching but unfortunately I’m in a bit of a predicament, so as I am currently working away I only have specific days that I am able to check on my bp’s when I am home my partner is happy to change out their water and they are fed weekly when I come home however he refuses point blank to touch them at all. For this reason I want to know what is your guys opinions on eggs cutting as I’m worried that if I let the eggs hatch naturally I won’t be able to be there incase of issues. I am going to be home this Saturday until Monday and the eggs will be at day 55 on Monday. I won’t be home again until the following Saturday and the eggs will then be on day 60 I’m unsure of what to do as I want the babies to have the best chance of hatching. Any advice would be really appreciated.
TIA 😊

I'd personally favor leaving them alone, or at the very least, waiting until after at least one comes out on their own before cutting any eggs. I've raised many snakes from eggs- I'm not a cutter.

Sometimes the few that fail to come out have defects which don't even show up until later- or they may have no egg-tooth- again, that's a defect that you do NOT want to perpetuate. I think nature has reasons why some don't make it out, even if they aren't obvious to us in the moment, & that in the long run, we're breeding healthier snakes that survive in the future when we don't interfere excessively.

Also- when you cut early, the eggs can dry out making it hard (or even impossible) for the snakes to emerge once they finally are ready. They're also more at risk from pathogens & insects (like flies!) when the eggs are cut prematurely.

Thank so much for your reply, so if I left them to emerge on their own how long would they be okay in the incubator for because I only have a certain days I have access to them and I don’t want to risk causing more damage and possibly having healthy babies hatch for them to die due to not being removed from the incubator in time from lack of oxygen or other reasons. I will only have access to them this Sunday through to Monday which will be day 53-55 and the weekend after that which would be days 60-62. If between these dates they hatched I would not be able to remove them from the incubator due to working away from home. Unfortunately this is not an ideal situation and would much rather be there have have the process happen naturally but as I soar I also want to ensure the babies get the best chance 😊

I have never incubated ball python eggs. However I have incubated eggs from other species of snakes, both pythons and colubrids. I am not a cutter. From my reading, I would not expect ball python eggs to hatch till 60 days or later. And even cutters do not cut until the first eggs start to be slit. Eggs do not hatch on the same day. The last egg to be slit is usually a couple of days after the first to be slit. And a baby slits the shell and often does not completely leave the protection of the shell for 2-3 days. IMO, the babies can stay in the incubator for 7 days after the first egg slits. This depends on the size of the egg box and the number of eggs in it, though. Good luck.

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Originally Posted by Jade0997x

...and possibly having healthy babies hatch for them to die due to not being removed from the incubator in time from lack of oxygen or other reasons...

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"....lack of oxygen..."? :confusd: Incubating eggs require oxygen too, that shouldn't be an issue if the eggs are hatchable. It would be ideal to be there to remove them after each one hatches, but snakes have been doing this without our assistance for a long time in the wild. They'll also drink water (or bathe) if it's available, but the humidity alone should suffice until you return.

If there is room in your incubator for a "lounge" area, I would provide that: what I mean is something like a container with either damp paper towels or PREFERABLY, damp sphagnum moss, because snakes look for a place to hide or burrow, & you don't want them to hang around (or under!) the other eggs, so you want to offer something more comfy- & also make sure there's nothing in the incubator (with holes or loops) they can get stuck in, because snakes do the darnedest things. ;) -As an example- some crawl back inside their eggs after hatching, as a way to hide if there's nothing else available.

(& just for the sake of clarity, none of the snakes I've hatched out were BPs either-)