Are you a cutter?

[FireStorm]

We used to. Then last year we started maternally incubating. Last year, we let them pip on their own but we did cut bigger windows a few times (in eggs that had already pipped on their own). This year, the plan is so cutting at all.

[Mephibosheth1]

so cutting the eggs allows for increased survival rates??

[sho220]

so cutting the eggs allows for increased survival rates??

Depends on who you ask...I don't think anyone can definitively say one way is better than the other...yet...

[zwhitman]

This is a great thread. I have been wondering about the proportions of people who do and don't cut open eggs. I think that we all have to ask ourselves why we do the things we do. At this point I have never heard convincing evidence that one way or the other consistently produces more live hatchlings, and certainly no one knows the long term effects on the health of the individual snake, or the cumulative effects at a population level. Now it would be interesting if everyone who responded to this poll also posted the percentage of full term dead in egg offspring that they have gotten... or those that fail to thrive until the first feeding. Hmmm... something tells me that those numbers are out there, but that those polls probably wont get as many responses. At least not if its public...

FWIW I do have my own data from several other species but I have never bred enough balls for that data to be relevant to the discussion here.

[RobertVDK]

I have never cut, nor will I ever cut.

[bubblz]

Waiting on my first bp clutch and I'm not cutting. Someone asked about cutting tegu eggs on another site and this was my response.

In most cases if they're not strong enough to make it out of the egg on their own it may be because of health reasons, genetic ones at that. So why pass those genes on? Just because an animal makes it through the incubation process and or development for any baby doesn't mean it was meant to survive (for long if at all) even if so to be bred. Survival of the fittest should still be up held even in captivity, who wants a lemon pet that's a genetic mess especially when most people expect to get healthy pets? I don't know about you but I can think of a whole lot of other things and ways to spend my money other than at a Vet hospital. Strong and healthy animals pass on strong and healthy genes, just the same as weak and sickly ones. Not only in the animal world but people are a testament to that as well.

[sho220]

I have never cut, nor will I ever cut.

It's actually pretty interesting to be able to see the last week or so of development...however, the longer I've been breeding, the less interest I have in cutting, but for newbs I'd say try it at least once. It's a good learing experience and the odds something bad happens just due to the cutting is probably about .0000001%...

[MrLang]

It's actually pretty interesting to be able to see the last week or so of development...however, the longer I've been breeding, the less interest I have in cutting, but for newbs I'd say try it at least once. It's a good learing experience and the odds something bad happens just due to the cutting is probably about .0000001%...

Only being here 2 years I can tell you definitively that percentage needs to lose 6 or 7 or even 8 orders of magnitude. There is risk involved more so than letting the eggs pip on their own. You'll note a strong correlation between people who have been in the hobby a long time and hatched the most clutches and the tendency to not cut or cut after the first pip. Of course there are veterans who got lucky, just don't care, or aren't analyzing the process enough to figure out whether or not it's 'worth it'.

For people who do cut early - since there isn't a definitive statistic on it I think they're just willing to take the risk because there are a lot of other people saying 'go for it, it's fine'. Peer pressure is a dangerous thing, especially peer pressure that plays off our natural impatience and desire for instant gratification.

[SquamishSerpents]

Bumping this post!

[BHReptiles]

I'm expecting my first two clutches this season (one due at the end of July...the other female is in blue with her pre-lay shed). I've been doing my research on both cutting before pips, cutting after pips, and allowing all the babies to pip on their own. I've decided that I'm not going to cut at all. There are very few surprises in life and this just happens to be one of them (I have the same view on finding out genders of unborn human babies). I want to go crazy with no knowing what's in my eggs, even if it does just that: make me go crazy! However, if there's an egg that's not pipping on it's own after it's siblings are already out of the egg or I feel like there may be some other kind of problem, I will probably cut.