The Official Birth Defect Documentary *Graphic picture warning*

[sho220]

We all know that birth defects and other issues will be present when producing any kind of animal in large numbers. This is not a thread asking which defect is associated with what morph.
I wanted to start a thread to document the numbers associated with birth defects.

Please post the following when reporting a defect:
1) Morph - Unknown
2) The defect - 1 w/deformed eyes, 1 died in egg
3) Possible reasoning for the defect - Possible incubation temp issue
4) The parental pairing - Spider Dam x Enchi Sire
5) Total number of clutches and/or hatchlings you have produced - Produced one or two clutches a year since '08 w/no previous deformed babies.
6) Photos - See below
7) Any other information that you wish to include. (Maybe post how many defective hatchlings you have produced to date) - 7 eggs total were laid which resulted in 1 normal, 3 Enchi's, a Stingerbee and the deformed babies. The orange baby hatched out alive but only lived for about 3 days. All other babies were perfectly normal. It was the first clutch for the Enchi Sire and, I believe, 2nd clutch for the Spider Dam.

This is taken from my original post on 7/17/12 when they hatched...

"I think what may have affected these two guys was a temp problem that happened a few weeks prior to their pipping date. We had a bad storm move through several weeks ago (anyone on the East Coast knows the storm I'm referring to) and we lost power for about 20 hours. I thought I had maintained a fairly consistent temp, but apparently not. Once the temp in the incubator started dropping, I began trying to use some heat packs to bring it back up and maintain a reasonably constant temp. I thought I did fairly well, but I guess not. I'm thinking my Accurites weren't a big help as they both vary about 5 degrees. I usually rely on my Herpstat for the most accurate reading, but without power I had to rely on the Accurites.

I'm hoping these last two pull through. The orange guy/girl left a pretty sizable yolk sack behind so it may be touch and go until first feeding. The other still shows no signs of coming out. I guess at this point all I can do is wait. Also hoping my other clutch hasn't been affected. They are about two weeks away from hatch date and all eggs look great. Still big and plump but starting to dimple a tiny bit. Fingers crossed for them!"

Second clutch I mentioned above hatched w/no problems. Same Enchi Sire also.

This guy only lasted 3 days...







Still in the egg...




This is the other baby that died in the egg...

[Coleslaw007]

I just had my first experience with a deformity. Pairing was fire to pinstripe. 8 eggs. Clutch was incubated at 89 degrees and began to pip on day 55, 7 had fully hatched by the 3rd day and one egg was unpipped. I slit it a bit and the baby inside looked... odd. I gave it one more day and them opened it more, it was weirdly fused. I was prepared to euthanize by destroying the brain matter but when I actually removed it I found it had died in the egg. Here are the pics,







It's spine was very kinked, it went in a zigzag like pattern.

All the rest of the clutch seem perfectly healthy.

I did not have any temperature spikes or drops so far as I'm aware. The clutch that hatched before this one was fine and I'll watch the clutch due to hatch later this month.

Edit: the dam was a breeding loan from a friend so I'm not sure I'll be breeding her again. This was her first clutch. Sire has fathered many clutches, this is my second clutch ever so far and he sired both.

[Mephibosheth1]

Are these caused by environmental factors, or are they from poor genetics?? (or both??)

I know most "birth defects" (usually just runty size) in my mice are caused by genetic factors, and only a handful from poor diet/maternal neglect; I would imagine it is different in herps??