My personal thoughts on hatchlings with tangled cords

[Neal]

I'm not meaning the specific case you're talking about, I just mean in general, I've heard time and time again that people cut to prevent drowning.

Show me the hatchling actually drowned and I may believe it.

Until then...the scissors are reserved for other things

I wouldn't say people lie about it though. Do people really use scissors?

[SquamishSerpents]

No no I'm not saying they're lying, I'm saying they're stating COD with no confirmation, other than visually a dead snake in the egg.

How else would people cut their eggs? Most use curved sewing scissors from what I've seen . I've also seen people do it with razors but wow would not trust myself with a bare blade

[Neal]

No no I'm not saying they're lying, I'm saying they're stating COD with no confirmation, other than visually a dead snake in the egg.

How else would people cut their eggs? Most use curved sewing scissors from what I've seen . I've also seen people do it with razors but wow would not trust myself with a bare blade

Well I would do it with a razor, but I'd be very cautious. I don't like scissors.

[MarkS]

50 cutters, 25 non-cutters

The size of the cut does make a difference in my opinion, There is a big difference between making a small slit and cutting away a large portion of the top of the egg. I don't cut as often these days however I still do cut any non-pipped eggs. I don't cut until at least one of the eggs has pipped however often before noticing that one egg they all have pipped so I don't have to bother. All eggs that have not pipped I cut. Yes I have had full term babies dead in the egg and some of those I checked did not have an egg tooth, it either didn't develop or it was knocked off too early. I can only assume that it drown in the egg trying to free itself, I don't know ANYBODY who would have a necropsy done on a stillborn hatchling so you're never going to have PROOF of it but I think it's a reasonable assumption.

Neal; I use scissors to cut my eggs. No matter how careful I try to be with a razor I'd often still go too deep and cut some blood vessels (although this is not as critical with a baby the size of a ball python as it is with smaller species). You don't jab the tip of the scissors into the egg, you hold the scissors sideways and cut a small nick in the egg, then you slide the tip of the scissors inside the egg keeping the tip tight against the inside of the egg shell and make a small snip, this way you can usually avoid cutting any blood vessels. I generally only cut a small V shaped slit about an inch long or so, just enough for a babies head to get out. Usually they don't even bother using it and make they're own cuts but sometimes they do.

Has this saved the lives of some babies that couldn't get free on their own? There really is no way to PROVE it, but I think it has as I've noticed a few hatchlings come out by way of the cut I had made without making any cuts themselves.

[SquamishSerpents]

Bumping this up since there are a lot of eggs cookin' right now!

[Reptile Frenzy]

We have had one twisted umbillicus but it was already twisted before we cut the egg. Once we had cut the egg we noticed that the umbillcus was twisted. IF it was not for cutting that egg we would have not known this. Needless to say we tried everything we could but the snake ended up passing...