Hello,

So my friend got 9 eggs from a ball python (probably retained sperm) but did not have an incubator. Neither did I but I did manage to incubate a pigeon egg once with a makeshift one. So I do it again for BP eggs, of course temp 31'C, 100% humidity. So I do it with a simple box and a heating pad underneath and thermometer probe half way in the substrate - this is first time for me, I know about BP only from reading on the internet, have zero xp on this and just wanted to try to save the eggs. (Why we didn't try maternal incubation, current owner of the female is not interested in baby snakes... long story).

On day 56 one hatches. Normal baby, all good, on day 2 slithering around the "incubator". but rest of the 8 eggs are not hatching and it is now almost day 3. I candle the eggs and I see babies moving but of them 2 look very still, no movement at all. I was a bit scared for those 2 so I cut tiny slits - today, day 58 of incubation. Babies are OK, they are responsive, but their "alien" heads are completely white - I mean inside, outline is black-gray. The mother is a pastel and father is also. Does this means they are super pastel or something or are the babies underdeveloped? Are undeveloped babies with little color, or is there another problem? (I do not expect them to be some fancy morph, or that parents were hets, they were sold cheap and were not from a good breeder).

I do not want to poke further in the egg to see. I think I already did a lot of damage by cutting them maybe too early. I have added some warmed (to 31'C) saline to both eggs as they look a bit dry. I have covered the slits with pieces of saline infused tissue paper. And I am mortified now.

Eggs are all clumped together, so they can distribute heat. I check with laser thermometer but there is some uneven temperature. So temps are constant, but the heat pad heats uneven, so one place it goes 30-31'C, but on another spot 28-29'C.

What do you think?