My personal thoughts on hatchlings with tangled cords

[SquamishSerpents]

While it IS a common practice to cut ball python eggs, I think it's wrong to say "everyone" does it. IF someone is cutting eggs, they are far more likely to post pictures of it. So you see lots of pictures of cut eggs. But anyone who doesn't cut eggs isn't going to give daily updates about the eggs they didn't cut. So it only LOOKS like "everyone" is doing it, because those that don't aren't bothering to talk about it except in threads like this.

This is a very good point Judy, however I do still feel that the majority of breeders cut their eggs. Again, I could be way off base on this. I have started a poll here: Are you a cutter?

I believe that the main purpose of egg cutting is to aid the hatchling in escaping from their egg shells and not so that you can get an early peek at what's inside (although that's definately a bonus)

I believe that SHOULD be the main purpose of artificial pipping, but unfortunately I think a lot of new people coming in to the hobby are seeing numerous videos from big-time breeders who are cutting their eggs, and proudly calling out what the hatchlings are inside. They see that this is an accepted practice, people start asking "hey, what day are your eggs on, when are you cutting them?" I believe there may have been a shift in motives over the years. Just my opinion, however.

I would like to hear more on the subject of dead, fully developed babies who couldn't get out of the egg.

I personally have had a few DIEs. Mostly corn snakes. Fully developed, yes, but I have never found a DIE that didn't have some type of obvious deformity.

Just what I've gathered from reading around this forum and watching the boyfriend with his corn snake eggs, which he does not cut btw. If all the eggs in a clutch have pipped except a couple, he'll try to wait them out and if they haven't pipped within a day or so he'll cut to check on the baby but it seems like those end up containing dead-in-egg babies most of the time anyway.

See my point above, my experience is exactly this.

I raised this theory last year, actually. I don't think it's the cutting as much as the constantly checking, poking prodding to get a better look after cutting.

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I think the problem is more likely the constant jostling and checking on the snakes while they're in the egg that causes the problem. They tend to try to hide further in the egg when that happens and it increases the chance of getting tangled.

This is highly likely as well. Anything that startles a baby can harm a baby. IMO.

I've never hatched snake eggs, but I was a homebirth midwife for 20 years. Three things come to mind in relation to this thread: If you scare the mother, a properly positioned baby will often turn breech. In my experience, anything we do in labor to help the process or expedite thing often just slows everything down. According to research done now that a large number of babies have been born by planned cesarean section (rather than in response to problems during pregnancy or labor), cesarean born babies are more likely to die unexpectedly following their birth.
Other things I've heard are that people with pet mammals often find that "helping" with the process of labor does just the opposite and can lead to loss of the entire litter. If you help baby chicks out of their eggs, it kills them.
i can't imagine that snakes eggs are any different and if I do decide to have babies some day I'll be messing with those eggs as little as possible.

Thank you for your input! What an interesting field of work. I'd love to chat with you more about it one day!

I stopped cutting my eggs a couple years ago. It wasn't because of any issues with the babies hatching it was because I noticed a better feeding response from babies that hatched on their own.

This is another theory I have heard, and I think it has some merit, too.

Think about it, if a baby doesn't get to "use" it's VERY FIRST instinct, which is using it's egg tooth, cutting itself out of the egg, absorbing the yolk (that part is biological and not instinctual, but you know what I mean) and crawling out of the egg, then maybe it takes longer for the feeding instinct to "activate."

Also, I have to thank you all for your thoughtful responses! This is a very interesting thread for me!