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Bad news...

Paranoika

Paranoika

New member
I opened up the container with my eggs to put in some moss, and discovered all the eggs just kind of shriveled up... the perlite obviously didn't maintain enough humidity... I feel so bad... like I killed those poor babies! I'm almost crying right now... I wish I had known better what I was doing... This whole thing makes me not want to breed snakes ever (not that this was even an attempt, more of an unfortunate accident)
I couldn't just give up on them, so they're on moss now.. even though I'm probably just kidding myself... Not too mention I think that in my panic I may have rolled some of the eggs... I just feel so helpless. Tonight sucks.
I just wanted to experience the joy every breeder feels when they see those little faces peaking out at them, but I've only given myself grief.
Maybe if it had been planned it could've happened differently?
What can I say? I just feel like a failure.
Still, thanks everyone for all your help! You've been the light in a damp, dark tunnel.
 
I guess I'm just hoping that maybe someone out there has felt this way before and knows what to say to make some of the pain go away. I don't mean to be so melodramatic... I guess I had just grown too attached to these eggs.
 
There is nothing that someone can say to make the pain go away.

When something like this happens it is heart wrenching. The best you can do is learn from mistakes.

I just went back and read all your posts about the eggs. If you had given them plenty of moisture, it may be that the clutch was bad given the fact that Isis was so small. But again, another learning experience.
 
The best you can do is learn from the experience, and if you choose to attempt to breed again - prepare everything ahead of time so there is little to no scrambling around at the last minute.

As Stephen said (in a round about and direct way), sometimes things just go wrong and there's nothing you can really do about it. You have to accept mistakes you might have made and have to accept that sometimes the eggs just weren't meant to hatch for one reason or another. It's sad, but when everything lines up and you see that first nose pip through the egg - it makes all the previous heartache worth it just to see that perfect little baby taking it's first look at the world around it.

I don't care of it's a normal, an amel, or a never before seen combo worth thousands, when it breaks through the egg it's the neatest feeling in the world.
 
I messed up my attempt at breeding last year by disturbing the female during laying, and was lucky not to lose her. I ended up with 3 hatching out of 12 eggs laid over a protracted period, of which 1 had a herniated umbilicus and I had to euthanise it. I absolutely beat myself up over it, then had to view it as a learning experience. I can only empathise with how you must be feeling and hope your next breeding attempt has a better outcome.
Really the main concern now has to be the female, getting her back into condition asap, in case she double-clutches
 
Dont be so hard on your self. Nature has a way of selective reduction. It may not have been your fault.
 
Yep, you did your best, given that this was your first experience and a total surprise. As others have said, it could be that the clutch was never viable in the first place.

Try to look on this as a valuable learning experience - just think how much better prepared you'll be, when you eventually start your fully-planned breeding programme.

Now you can concentrate on your "surprise Mom" and make sure she recovers well.

You really did your best under the circumstances. Although it's been upsetting and disappointing, try not to beat yourself up.
 
Sounds like you either didn't put enough water into the vermic to begin with - or - your tub had WAY too much air ventilation and was drying out to fast. Put real damp - not wet - moss on them - or a wet paper towel - and some MAY plump up and survive. If they are not TOO BAD, then there is a GREAT CHANCE than some of them will. GOOD LUCK, and now you know what to watch for next time!

If it makes you feel better, we've all done stupid stuff. There probably isn't a breeder that hasn't whacked, dropped, or spilled a box of eggs at one time or another. I incubate eggs on racks, and I slipped and dropped one from over my head until I caught it at my waist. Vermic and eggs went everywhere. I once somehow pushed an egg box accidentally so far back on that rack (they used to hold 2 rows) - again well above eye level - where it got turned side-ways so that other rows got put in front on of them. I found that one about 3 months after it was due to hatch. Ouch. I remember that one was a clutch of locality speckled kingsnakes. I've also - and it is surprising that this has only happened once - took the top off of a hatching clutch, got buy, and walked off with the top off. I came home to a box of mostly empty eggs.....lol. Those were also speckled kingsnakes.....lol. I think I recovered all buut one pretty quickly, but still!

Those were all years ago, and 3 MAJOR mistakes after this long with that many clutches is pretty good IMO. They were all when I was relatively new (like you), so IT HAPPENS. Don't let it get you down.
KJ
 
KJ said it right. When the eggs get dehydrated they shrivel up and can look really bad. But very often they can be rehydrated and saved so don't give up yet. Make sure your moss is moist and cover the eggs with it. You can seal the container completely to keep the humidity up. All is not lost yet.

As everyone has said, we have all lost eggs for one reason or another. Remember that in the wild 98% die. If you loose them all, you're about even with mother nature.
 
Thank you so much everyone.
I've given it some thought, and while I'll still try to do my best for these eggs, I'm willing to accept this as a learning experience and hope that next time when it's planned, things will be different.
I haven't let Isis in with another male since she laid, do you think there's still a chance of her double-clutching?
She's just so itty-bitty that it worries the heck out of me! She's eating 2 pinky rats every 5 days to give her some more weight, but I really hope nothing happens!
 
do you think there's still a chance of her double-clutching?
Click to expand...

It's possible. She might retain some sperm from the original mating. Double-clutching can then just be a matter of genetics (i.e. whether she's inherited the trait), timing of mating, fertility... sometimes just luck (possibly bad in this case).

Sometimes Mother Nature doesn't have the sense to prevent a second clutch if the female hasn't recovered enough.

Unfortunately I think all you can do is wait and see what happens, and get as much condition back on her as possible.
 
The eggs have started to plump up again. Do you think the potential babies will have been irreparably damaged by the dehydrating and rehydrating they've been through?
 
Keeping in the "we've all done stupid things" line, I ended up wrecking a clutch of milksnake eggs that weren't even mine - they were my girlfriend's! We were using a closet as an incubator, and I went in there to check on the eggs. Apparently one of the cats snuck in and ended up knocking the box of eggs on the floor. I didn't notice she was missing until several hours later. The whole clutch was lost. I felt horrible, and man was my girlfriend mad! But again, we all do stupid things and screw up now and then.
 
I've got one just this year (as in Stupid Things We Have Done). Eggs were doing good- I took their tub out of the incubator and set it on the table (I was going to candle a few)- I go to the cubboard to get the flashlight and the *expletive deleted* cat, SWATS the tub onto the floor! :headbang: (and to add insult to injury he tried to play with the eggs) I could have skinned him and tacked his hide to the wall I was so mad! None of the eggs made it :cry: (Beardie Eggs).
Almost made kitty soup that night. :dgrin:
 
I'm very sorry to hear of your loss :( As everyone has said..This is a learning experience..The only way for one to learn in life is through mistakes..Some mistakes just hurt a lot more then others :0(
 
Damn kitties! Lol! I constantly worry that my fat orange tabby will knock over my eggs when he gets hyper (which is usually at 4am, when I'm in no mood to play). But so far he's been good about it, though he's given me a couple scares by jumping over the incubator and onto the bed (I've got the eggs next to my bed to monitor the temps, since the closet gets colder than the room).
I took the advice of a co-worker and "candled" the eggs... Is that what you call it when you put them against light to try to see something? Four of them look yellow inside, but two have darker spots (kind of look like a little ringworm shape on the inside). Does that mean that they're all infertile? I'm reluctant to candle them again, I think I'll just leave them until they're due to hatch, b/c they've already been through so much. But I was curious about those little shapes on the inside.. I didn't see any veins, I don't think. They were laid around the 24th of June. Any ideas?
 
I would leave them alone. Just make sure they have the right temp and plenty of moisture and wait and see.
 
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