umbilical cord

[brettsemrick]

well my first clutch just has started pipping last night and i checked on them tonight and two of the babies have came out of the eggs and one of them has an umbilical cord still attached. i removed them from the egg tub because the one with the umbilical cord had vermiculite and perilite all over it and put them in a shoe box with paper towel as substrate. what do i do about the umbilical cord?

[TwistedEvolution]

I am assuming the yolk sac is still attached? If so you do nothing, if not you do nothing. It will take care of itself in time.

Best of luck,
J

[TwistedEvolution]

It is safe to rinse them off however to remove vermiculite from getting paper towels dirty... didn't know if you had done this...

[brettsemrick]

no the yolk sac isn't still attached. there is maybe about an inch or so of umbilical cord. i think there might have been a small amount of it still attached but it looks like it got pulled off while it was crawling around in the egg tub on the light diffuser the eggs were sitting on. thanks for the info and this is my first clutch to ever produce so i was completely freaking out.

[brettsemrick]

It is safe to rinse them off however to remove vermiculite from getting paper towels dirty... didn't know if you had done this...

no i haven't...but i will go do that right now.

[dr del]

Hi,

Make sure to keep them moist as well.


dr del

[aalomon]

Sometimes this happens and its not a problem. In a few days or less it will shrivel up and fall off. After the babies first shed you wont even be able to tell some of the chord was still attached. In the meantime, try and wash off some of the vermiculite and keep the baby on slightly damp paper towels.