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SOS Immediate help needed!

tgebert

tgebert

Man in the Box
I had an unexpected delivery this morning. When I went to feed my snakes I discovered a clutch of ten eggs. All but one look good (as far as I know) 1 has a yellow patch less than 1/16th of the egg. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO! I aquired my snakes last year as hatchling and did not brumate them and in no way expected this I NEED HELP AND i MEAN FAST!
 
Let's worry about the eggs first and the mother 2nd.


Get a tupperware container and make PINHOLE sized priks in the sides around the top. 10 or so should do.

take some paper towel (unbleached would be best but if not it's OK) and dampen it so that it's a little moist but not so that it drips when you squeeze it.

Scrunch it and put it all scrunched in the tub.

put in the eggs.

Put another layer or 2 of slightly damp paper towel on top and put the lid on.

Put it in a warm place like on top of the frigde or in a (not too hot) drying cupboard in the laundry.

Open the tub twice a week for oxygen exchange.

If the eggs dimple in before week 7, sprinkle a tiny amount of water on the covering sheet of paper towel and check a couple of hours later to see if they've plumped...if not, do it again but never make the eggs soggy.

It will do the job for you in the most low tech way possible but it will do the job.

In 8 weeks or so (depending on temps) you should expect to see babies!

Good luck!
 
First of all, seperate the snakes. By the sounds of it, you obviously have been co-habing a male and female which in turn have bred FAR too young. I would keep a very close eye on the female as a lot of underagers die after laying.

You will need to incubate the eggs if there is a possible chance they are fertile. Use a substrate that will hold in moisture like vermiculite or moss. Temps between 80 - 86 should do and a high humidity.
If you do a search on incubating eggs then you will come up with all the answers you need.
 
Now for mum.

I'm guessing as you had no idea she was gravid you house males and females together and have not been feeding her according to an expectant mothers needs.

She needs all the ALONE TIME she can get now. House her by herself and offer her small feeds for the first few feeds and then normal sized feeds after that. She should probably be not bred in 2007 to let her catch up again and perhaps you can try again in 2008.

Check to see she hasn't retained any eggs as she is little and it would be hard for her to pass them all. It might be worth calcium dusting her mice too to help her get some nutrients back in her.
 
Thanks

Heres what i have done before I asked for help. Fed mom and she ate very well on two hoppers, she jumped at the first and devoured the second immediately. I hope this is alright. I have transfered the eggs to a gallon size plastic container with moss substrate and paper towell cover. I will take and post pics soon
 
What does the female weigh? Don't weigh her now if you don't know. Leave her alone to digest. She should shed again in another week or so and then she should resume eating with a good appetite. That's when it's important to get the weight on her as some snakes will lay a 2nd clutch 2 months later even if not re-mated and you don't want her to deteriorate until then.
 
Weight

I don't know the weight of the snake. She would measure a little over thirty inches with a possible circumference of 3/4 to 1 inch. They are good size for their age as I have fed twice a week since they were young
 
Many follow the safety rule of 3 years, 3 feet and 300g as a minimum with 300g being the most important.

Yours have grown well but it sounds like they've been overfed which in the long run can shorten their lifespan. The male can perhaps go on a one mouse a week to every 10 days diet and the female should be given the chance to put on some weight now but once she's about 280-300g she should be on the same schedule as the male....and please SEPPARATE THEM.
 
I should add, if they're fed twice a week, it means they're constantly digesting and you never really get a good chance to handle them. Corns should not be handled for 48 hours after a feed.
 
Cheers,

Mistakes whilst easy to make are not all bad if you can learn something from them! Good luck with mum and clutch.
 
I personally think it's a bad idea to put airholes in an egg incubating container. The idea is to keep the humidity high and constant---air holes don't allow that.

My clutches have done fine in airtight containers and vermiculite.

I'd suggest no air holes.
 
princess said:
Yup, I agree, but that's why I emphasised pinholes in capital letters.
Click to expand...

Then why pinholes? Holes aren't needed at all, whether they be pinholes or pencil sized.

Also, I don't think it's necessary to 'burp' them every few days. I hadn't really touched mine for a few weeks, now that's it's close I am, but I think it's better to just leave them alone.
 
In the wild, a female will find a rotten stump or a nice composting pile of leaves to lay her eggs in. Nature does not provide an airtight laying chamber so neither should we as artificial incubators.

Compost is by its nature very aerobic and if the moisture level stays right, the eggs are exposed to a good amount of oxygen during their incubation.
 
I open my egg tubs once a week. It's not really to give them air but just to check on them. If an egg is getting moldy and is obviously bad I remove it so the mold doesn't get on all the good eggs.
 
princess said:
In the wild, a female will find a rotten stump or a nice composting pile of leaves to lay her eggs in. Nature does not provide an airtight laying chamber so neither should we as artificial incubators.
Click to expand...

Nature doesn't provide snakes mice every week at their doorstep either, so should we stop doing that? :shrugs: Your point isn't very valid, imo. We do a ton of things to our snakes that would never occur in nature, doesn't mean it's wrong or we should change it.
 
Your reasoning is...well, not very well thought out at best here Joe.

The objective of keeping an animal in captivity as a pet is to improve on the situations that they would encounter in the wild.

Regular feeding opportunities may not arise in nature but we can improve on that in captivity and in effect, optimise a snakes natural ability to grow to sexual maturity in a short time. Snakes in the wild may take much longer to get to their breeding weight but we can improve on those conditions in our homes.

A chosen nesting site may dry out in drier conditions or become waterlogged in an unseasonal downpour but in our artificial incubation environment, we can monitor and control this so that the best possible scenario in nature can be replicated in our homes as well.

These are just 2 of the situations we make better for the snakes to ultimately bring gains to ourselves if breeding is an objective.

Removal of predators, removal of parasites, comfortable temperature ranges....these are but a few of the modifications we make to improve on what nature can offer a snake in the wild.

I don't see how incubation in an airtight container is an improvement on what mother nature offers?
 
princess said:
Your reasoning is...well, not very well thought out at best here Joe.

The objective of keeping an animal in captivity as a pet is to improve on the situations that they would encounter in the wild.

Regular feeding opportunities may not arise in nature but we can improve on that in captivity and in effect, optimise a snakes natural ability to grow to sexual maturity in a short time. Snakes in the wild may take much longer to get to their breeding weight but we can improve on those conditions in our homes.

A chosen nesting site may dry out in drier conditions or become waterlogged in an unseasonal downpour but in our artificial incubation environment, we can monitor and control this so that the best possible scenario in nature can be replicated in our homes as well.

These are just 2 of the situations we make better for the snakes to ultimately bring gains to ourselves if breeding is an objective.

Removal of predators, removal of parasites, comfortable temperature ranges....these are but a few of the modifications we make to improve on what nature can offer a snake in the wild.

I don't see how incubation in an airtight container is an improvement on what mother nature offers?
Click to expand...


Okay, so a closed incubation container makes it easier to hatch eggs, right? Keeps the humidity constant so tinkering isn't required? Eggs aren't going to potentially dry out, right?

If that's all true, and having an open container or one with holes makes it more difficult, then why do it? The idea is to get a 100% success rate, is it not? Don't you think it's easier not to have to constantly mess with the eggs and make sure the humidity is okay, or do you prefer having to check those things every few days?

But I guess my logic just doesn't make any sense, even though plenty of other people use 'air-tight' containers....
 
I advise you to do four things:

1. Chunk the eggs in the mourning garbage
2. Separate the animals from each other
3. Cut way back on your feeding regime (maybe once every 10-12 days for the male, and once every 8 for the female)
4. Buy a good cornsnake book, I reccomend Corn Snakes: The Comprehensive Owner's Guide by Kathy Love, You can order this book directly form Kathy from her website, www.cornutopia.com
 
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