Question about umbilical cords

I've just hatched my first clutch and I'm wondering about the umbilical cord and the thing of yolk dragging behind it. Is this normal and what/when/how does it fall off?

Also, when is it safe to start separating them into their own containers?

They usually absorb the yolk completely before emerging from the egg. The umbilical cord is also not typically showing by then. It sounds as if your babies came out too soon. I would place them on damp paper towels in their own deli cups, and hope for the best.

It can be risky leaving that cord on, you may want to cut it off, very carefully, closest to the snake's bodies. For some it will just fall off on it's own, but if the cord catches on anything it can disembowel them. Terri is right, the snake came out of the egg to early. Sometimes checking on them too often can cause them to emerge prematurely, or sometimes they just do it for no apparent reason. I remember Rich Z once said that when he does need to remove hatchlings from an egg box and there are still eggs pipping, he gently touches them on the nose so they will go into thier egg while he does what he needs to do and then gets out of there ASAP.

i did the paper towel thing and most of the cord came off. I'm gonna hope for the best that it dries up and falls off or something.

It's strange too because that is the only one that has done that. The others have pipped but aren't coming out except for one and it was not attached to the cord.

Oh yeah, is it a documented fact that checking too often causes corns to hatch early and if so, why?

Thanks for the info