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Cutting the last egg, good idea?

antsterr

antsterr

Always mostly awesome
So my second and final clutch hatched between monday-tuesday of this week. Of the 13 eggs one of them has not hatched yet. It appears to be healthy still. The incubator was giving even heat over all the eggs so cold shouldn't have slowed this one's incubation. Should I consider cutting this egg as perhaps the little fellow inside can't get out or should I wait for a while longer and see what happens? It's been over 48 hours since the second to last egg pipped.

Any thoughts?
 
My thoughts are, and a LOT of people would disagree- if the snake can't make it out on its own, there is nearly always a good reason why. I have NEVER had a viable hatchling come out of a slit egg. I _have_ seen DIEs or live non-viable fetuses. Maybe I'm too sensitive, but I don't like seeing that. I _did_ slit a couple eggs this season, even though I don't think it is beneficial. Green goo came out of one, and nothing came out of the other. I did not explore further. Other people, though, will cut right in and dissect the egg and find out what secrets it holds. I guess, if you want to, just cut a very small slit, like the hatchling would do, and leave it.
 
So at this point you're speculation is that what ever is inside, if it was healthy, would be out by now?
Would it do any arm to slit it open? Is there any possible risk that it's still developing and just needs a little more time? I'm curious enough that if it is deformed I'd still like to know what morph it would have been.
 
I normally do it when all the other babies have been out a few days already. At first I will cut a slit the same size the baby would have made, then leave it for a couple of days. If still nothing I usually do open it up to see why it didn't hatch. And yes it can be graphic when there is a poor kinked or bubbleheaded baby in there, but I do it because I would want to know if my snakes were producing something deformed so as not to repeat that pairing. As Nanci said the ones that don't hatch usually don't hatch for a reason.
 
I've never had to slit eggs until this year. My pewter clutch had 3 unpipped for a few days after all were out. Cut into them and all were DIE, severely kinked and deformed. Usually if they don't hatch on their own, there's a reason for it.
Also had two that DID hatch but were so badly kinked their body had fused together =/ They had to be euthanized. :(
 
I had a clutch of 13 eggs, one of which didn't hatch. However, on close inspection it had a small slit where the occupant had attempted pipping. Two weeks after the others had hatched (yes, two whole weeks) I decided to cut the egg and discovered the occupant alive, but severely crushed by the egg's albumen, which had dried and contracted around her.

I cut away the albumen and freed the snake, whose neck had been crushed down to less than half its normal size. She looked like a squeezed toothpaste tube. She was also completely bent out of shape, and my daughter nicknamed her "Kinky". After a lot of loving care she fully recovered and straightened out and is now 12 months old - a beautiful snow. Her name is Willow now and we call her our "miracle baby".
 
Can't edit so I'll add this: a deformed snake inside the egg doesn't necessarily mean a deformed snake for life. Willow is equal in size, shape and health to all her brothers and sisters and ate within 3 days of hatching. There is NO trace of her former weakness and although we thought she'd always be a runt, this has proved not to be the case.

Don't write them off too early.
 
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