I Am Curious !!!! Anyone else ever have it happen ?

[Redneck_Crow]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that one little guy (or girl) Keep us posted - thanks!

I am too but I think that the degree of deformity I'm seeing is probably incompatable with life. I can't see it clearly, but it looks like major craniofacial deformity. The skull seems to be so small that the eyes are displaced outwardly and there doesn't seem to be much maxillary or mandibular structure there.

[TheVipersHouse]

congrats on the quadruplets!!!
now i have to ask.....
what if any benefit do you or the snakes have to be cut so early?
cutting is controversial to begin with and i know alot of big breeders as well. most who cut early that i know cut at day 50. i personally dont see any benefit other that satisfying your own curiosity, but if there is any benefit i would like to know.
thanks
adam jeffery

Personal Preference i guess , and also for educating myself on growth of babies . tracking times of development .

[TheVipersHouse]

I am too but I think that the degree of deformity I'm seeing is probably incompatable with life. I can't see it clearly, but it looks like major craniofacial deformity. The skull seems to be so small that the eyes are displaced outwardly and there doesn't seem to be much maxillary or mandibular structure there.

Yes you are correct again i apologize for my lack of video production lol .
but i honestly feel he/she wont make it due to the deformed structure of the head .

[Redneck_Crow]

I don't think it's your production. It's very hard to get a good shot of stuff that is wet and reflective. But I can see that a lot of jaw structure appears to be missing, and what is there doesn't look to be formed well. And the front of the skull looks constricted--when this happens in animal's I've bred (mammals) they can't usually feed and tube feeding something forever to try keep it alive when it will never be able to feed....to me that just seems cruel.

I've seen similar once before when a field next to my house was sprayed when a female hound was about 2 weeks pregnant. All of her pups except two were grossly deformed and we had them destroyed the same day by the vet. It looked like parts of their face and per the vet digestive system didn't form at all.

[TheVipersHouse]

Well im not 100% sure they will survive the total process of hatching , due to the fact of them all fighting over the same food source . Only time will tell .

[LaFilleClochette]

that is awesome! Hope that they make it!!

[Redneck_Crow]

Yeah. I'm just taking a wild guess here but I wouldn't be surprised that the reason that little guy is deformed is that there just weren't enough nutrients there at a critical stage in his development.

I don't think that it could possibly have anything to do with husbandry. That would have to have been spot on for any of the snakes to survive to hatching given the scant resources each hatchling would have had when one egg's worth of nutrients were divvied up four ways. Nature has selected against ball pythons having more than one hatchling in a single egg because they need the nutrients in that egg to survive. Man, I'd break my arm patting myself on the back if I were able to get something like those four to survive as long as they have--conditions had to be perfect for them to have gotten this far on so little.

[Boanerges]

That's cool dude!! Congrats on the quad egg, sorry about the one but I am sending some good luck vibes your way for all of them bro

[Russ Lawson]

That's pretty amazing, congratulations! I agree that the deformed one doesn't look like it will be able to survive on its own, but I hope the other three all emerge healthy.

[LawfulChaos]

that's ridiculous