HELP NEEDED PLEASE....New Hatchling

[notts-UK]

Any advice available?......I have never bread snakes before. I bought two as pets and they bread (I mean how inconsiderate). The problem I have is that the first egg has hatched today and I am now panicking. The embryo and egg seem to still be attached to the hatchling and the little fellow doesn't seem too lively.

* Is this normal
* If not normal, any suggestions
* Do I need to start feeding immediately

Any advice greatly accepted.

Thank You.

 

[Noel_Gallagher]

That isnt normal im afraid, it looks like you may be unlucky there and loose it : ( . Hatchlings should be offered food after their first shed start with small pinks once a week maybe two at a time if they are day old pinks etc. Its hard to tell from your pic but is the baby actually alive there? Dont really know whats gone on there as i have never bred snakes but have hatched 3 eggs after a friend gave them to me and never had a prob like that before

 

[notts-UK]

The hatchling is alive and seems to be moving quite well. (appears healthy). The snake hathced about two hours ago and I have since found a web site that suggests the snakes cord will detach itself after a couple of days and should not be cut or the hatchling will bleed to death. It does however, lead to me thinking that all this should take place in the egg....not outside. It also advises to keep the snake well watered to avoid dehydration.

If this is correct, can someone please confirm and put my mind at ease.

Thanking you in advance for your reply.

Jamie

 

[Simon]

Actually that belly cord thing isn't normal. Some will advice you not to cut it but I would rather cut it instead of leaving it there. As Rich has mentioned before that these cords if they are left there to dry and it sticks on something it MIGHT even pull their intestines out....which is pretty gross in my own opinion.

I would try and cut it so that it's at least a bit shorter.

Also try and keep it a bit moist so that the cord doesn't dry out and stick to things. Put in wet paper towels in there to help lose the little cord.

Keep us updated!
Hope that this helped!

Good Luck and Happy Herping!

 

[pipatic]

if your going to seperate then pinch the cord ,useing both hands
re thumb and finger on both hands ,
press hard and hold for 2 min then tear the cord , keep hold of the bit that is attach to the snake for a few more min s,i have had to do this once or twice over a number of years

BUT STILL NO GRANTEE U WILL SAVE IT ,SORRY

 

[notts-UK]

What I've done is took a small length of sterile cotton and tied it at the base of the cord near to the snake. I held the knot tight for about ten minutes to be safe. Holding the knot very tight I then cut the cord as close to the snake as possible and then cut the cotton as near to the knot as possible leaving to come off with the cord if this should happen. (Got the idea from the clip the midwives used on my kids when they were born, I'm hoping it will work along the same principle).

No blood appears to be escaping from the cord, so fingers crossed. The little fellow still seems to be quite perky so I have done as advised and laid some damp paper towelling in the bottom of the tank. The snake already appears to show signs of turning milky so he may shed soon. Maybe when it feeds I'll find out whether there are any complications.

Will keep you all advised and thanks for your responses.

All the best.

Jamie

 

[pipatic]

good jamie and i hope it works

 

[Mare]

Best of luck...

With the little guy. I'm rooting for him/her! After going through all of this, if he/she makes it, I'll bet you keep him/her!

 

[notts-UK]

Checked on the little fellow this morning and so far so good. He/She is moving around well and coiled up into a striking pose when I put my hand in.

I then suddenly noticed that there was another little head peeking out of one of the other eggs.

I appear to only have 4 eggs that look to have survived full term out of 9 laid, one of them though must be related to an elephant somewhere along its ancestory. Its huge compared to the others.

 

[Simon]

Well congrats on the second little fellow coming up. So another grandchild for you....that's great news.

Maybe that huge egg is a twin or something....that could be possible....that's why it's twice the size of a regular egg....or it could be related with an elephant...LOL...

Good Luck hope that the first little guy/gal survives for you!

 

[notts-UK]

LUCKY IS OKAY

Out of the four likely eggs the fourth and largest didn't seem to be able to cut his way out. I carefully sliced open the top of the egg about 2cm and left it for a couple of days but nothing. The snake was fully formed but I think with taking the other eggs out of the area of incubation the moisture level had been lost and the eggshell had become too hard.

On the good side. LUCKY....The snake with the belly cord problem appears to be fine. The tying of the cotton around the cord seems to have done the trick as the whole of the cord dropped off yesterday.

The other two little snakes appear to be fit and healthy so I have seperated them, giving them each their own 2ltr ice cream tub lined with vermiculite, a small shallow lid of some nature for water and a toilet roll inner as a little dark hiding area.

Lucky is considerably smaller than the other two snakes and may need some help with feeding as I cannot see any way that he could eat a whole pinky to himself. The other two should be fine they are at least twice his/her thickness.

Can anybody tell me when I should be feeding them, I recall reading somewhere that it is after their first shed......any ideas as to when this might be? As lucky is so small should I try feeding him/her sooner?

Kind Regards
Jamie

 

[tkbalt]

Yes, their first feeding should be after their first shed, which can be as early as five days and as late as two weeks after their hatching, but is generally about one week after hatching. As far as I know they pretty much don't eat before they shed, although I haven't had a huge amount of experience with this myself (raising my first hatchlings right now as well). Good luck with Lucky. Good name.

Oh, and if a whole pinky is too big for Lucky, you can try just giving him the head of a pinky. Unfortunately, yes, that means you have to cut off the head. Ewwww....

 

[Simon]

Yup like tkbalt said.

They should eat after their first shed. I have seen some babies eat before their first shed too. But that's just something not all babies want to do. Most of them will eat after their first shed.

If you use f/t pinkies then breaking the pinky head off isn't too hard.....it's actually quite easy. As long as Lucky eats I don't think that you'll think that breaking a pinky's head is too gross....you'll be overwhelmed with joy more than thinking it's gross....

Good Luck and Happy Herping!

 

[notts-UK]

Some cool pics there Simon...nice one.

I noticed in the pics under the section racks that you also had hamster/rodent cages. Do you breed your own food for your snakes.

I have often considered doing this myself...the pet shops round my area aren't really geared towards reptile owners so I end up travelling a fair treck just to get some mice.

Again Nice Pics

Thanks

 

[fivewilsons]

Had one very similar to this just last night. Baby was pipping from egg on bottom of the clutch of 9, so we helped it a bit and when we pulled it out only to find it still attached to the yolk sack. It wasn't moving.

We are still hopeful for the other eight.

Good luck with lucky.

 

[snake5007]

Had one very similar to this just last night. Baby was pipping from egg on bottom of the clutch of 9, so we helped it a bit and when we pulled it out only to find it still attached to the yolk sack. It wasn't moving.

We are still hopeful for the other eight.

Good luck with lucky.

you should have started a new thread,mate. this one is about four years old.

 

[fivewilsons]

:shrugs: apologies . . . I'm a bit of a novice.
Will post some pics of our clutch of corns if I can figure that out.