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To cut or not to cut??

Susielea said:
I knew you knew, but also knew others may not know what you know :p ;)

PS, don't worry I haven't lost it, well not yet :D
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There are some things I think I know that others would definitely not want to know nor think they knew that I knew or . . . yeah.

BTW, you have to have it first before you can lose it . . . :sidestep:

:D
D80
 
Drizzt80 said:
There are some things I think I know that others would definitely not want to know nor think they knew that I knew or . . . yeah.

BTW, you have to have it first before you can lose it . . . :sidestep:

:D
D80
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See, now that may just be the problem, not having it in the first place ;)

Drizzt80 said:
No doubt there! I've seen some things too! Some get their pictures taken, others get shuffled quickly off to the trash in case my wife thinks I'm running weird genetic experiments . . . okay, not really, but it feels that way sometimes!

D80
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Well, you are a science teacher are you not? So not surprising if your wife were to think that :grin01:
 
I'd be tempted to cut it open. After almost 3 weeks past the others you would think there would be some sign of something. Then again, if I cut it and the snake was alive but not ready to come out and then died I'd feel terrible. Tough call. Let us know what happens though!

~Katie
 
That's a tough one Brent! but:

If it's dead, then it's dead and you will eventually find out!

If it's alive and you let it hatch then cool beans!!

If it's alive and you leave it and it dies, you probably won't know and I guess then it was meant to die?

If it's alive and you cut and inadvertantly kill it...well...

If it's alive and you cut and it lives cooler beans!!!

Just IMHO, stating the obvious, I can't really say what I would do, but I'm leaning towards leaving it alone, especially because it appears healthy.

PS) OFF_TOPIC:my first clutch is hatching out over a time frame of about a day and half now with 11 of 16 left to hatch, is this normal?
 
PtDnsr said:
I'd be tempted to cut it open. After almost 3 weeks past the others you would think there would be some sign of something. Then again, if I cut it and the snake was alive but not ready to come out and then died I'd feel terrible. Tough call. Let us know what happens though!

~Katie
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ForkedTung said:
PS) OFF_TOPIC:my first clutch is hatching out over a time frame of about a day and half now with 11 of 16 left to hatch, is this normal?
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Thanks for the input from both of you. As for hatching time frame, it's typically about a 3-4 day process. Sometimes a day or two longer, other times a day shorter. Just be glad it's not 3 weeks! ;)

D80
 
I say cut it....I've had a couple eggs like that....that were a bit bigger and didnt hatch...when candled didn't look fully formed. That was exactly what was in them, like something had happened to the embryo about half way through. But if your gut says dont, then go with that.
Im curious though to see whats in there...
 
I'm definitely not experienced at all, but it's my feeling that if you just let it go a little longer, it'd be less of a risk than slitting it.
But once again, that's an inexpert opinion.
Best of luck, I have my fingers crossed! (which makes typing quite difficult)
 
FYI - in my experience candling....I candled my eggs within a day or so of hatching and saw what you described....only like 1/3 of the egg was dark. I believe the "clear" part is actually the "white" of the egg, including the hatchling...and the dark spot is what's left of the yolk. Don't be worried that you can't see anything in the clear part....it's there!
 
Drewby07 said:
FYI - in my experience candling....I candled my eggs within a day or so of hatching and saw what you described....only like 1/3 of the egg was dark. I believe the "clear" part is actually the "white" of the egg, including the hatchling...and the dark spot is what's left of the yolk. Don't be worried that you can't see anything in the clear part....it's there!
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I respectfully disagree. I also have only seen about 1/3 of the egg being dark. My thoughts on this are that the dark part is the snake, that hasn't absorbed the yolk yet and therefore that is why it is so small. Then when it is ready to pip it absorbs it making the snake much bigger when it finally pips, just IMHO
 
I've candled and then immediately cut DIE hatchlings...and the "clear" part with veins was indeed the part with the snake....and the dark part was the opaque yolk. It's happened more than once...but maybe it was coincidence...who knows?
 
Drewby07 said:
I've candled and then immediately cut DIE hatchlings...and the "clear" part with veins was indeed the part with the snake....and the dark part was the opaque yolk. It's happened more than once...but maybe it was coincidence...who knows?
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point taken...but why would the darkest part of the egg, the snake, candle clear....hmm....you obviously have more experience with this...very interesting. thanks, K
 
I think it's more that the baby snake diffuses the light somewhat...or maybe the "white" has some weird light diffusion properties? I'm not sure. I liken it to when you put your finger on top of a flashlight...your whole finger glows, and you can't see the bone....even though they are definitely there!!
 
SOOO???? What did you decide to do??

I'm could come up with 2 options. Either you decided to wait and are now unconscious from all that :headbang:

Or, you cut and what what inside was so horrific that your wife had you committed.
 
Well I didn't cut it yet, but I think I'm going to give in and cut it later today. Have to go visit the parents first (ma's b-day) and will probably give it a go later this afternoon/tonight. I'll post pics/information.

D80
 
I had this happen this year and slit. The little guy inside was severely deformed and had a kink in its neck so it wasn't possible for him to slit his own egg. I wish I hadn't slit it to find him deformed and still alive...
 
TripleMoonsExotic said:
I had this happen this year and slit. The little guy inside was severely deformed and had a kink in its neck so it wasn't possible for him to slit his own egg. I wish I hadn't slit it to find him deformed and still alive...
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We have a winner. For what it's worth, I slit open every egg that doesn't hatch by itself to satisfy my curiosity as to why it didn't hatch.

Needless to say it's disappointing to slit open an egg to find a living hatchling, but at the same time, the hatchling would never have survived anyway. My personal guess is that it was so "messed up" internally that the yolk was unable to be absorbed at the same rate as its clutchmates.

When I first slit open the egg, its little nose was peeking through a gap in the yolk sack (which was completely surrounding it) and it's tongue was actually flicking. I felt disappointed at having cut open the egg. BUT, then I pulled him from the egg, he felt distinctly odd. Boney would be the best explanation. Sure enough, unwrapping him from the yolk sack revealed what truly had taken place with this hatchling. Sad, but they're not all meant to live and I can live with that.

Thanks for the interest and discussion. It keeps the streak alive. Not one egg that I've cut open after the rest of the clutch has hatched on its own has been a healthy living hatchling. :shrugs:

D80

(The brown item in the center of the pic is a stray piece of sphagnum that snuck into the picture!)
PG08120.jpg
 
Well that's sad, but that's real.. I had one last year that managed to slit the egg and crawl out on it's own.. It had about two coils of it's body fused together in one lump that it managed to drag around with it. I was too horrified to take pics though I wish I had now. I guess snake genes can be kind of fickle, but that might be what makes so many morphs possible too..

Interesting pics though, thanks for postiing.
 
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Bummer...Sorry he didn't make it. Definitely looks odd, but not as deformed as a few lately:puke01:
 
Oh my goodness, I can't believe that little guy was alive!

Just looking at pictures of deformed snakes makes me get that anxious butterfly feeling in my stomach. I think I'd have nightmares if I'd actaully seen that thing moving around. I suppose if I ever start breeding some day I will have to send all my unhatched eggs over to someone who can stomach it for investigation. I don't think I could handle it. Snakes who do not develop all the way also don't develop their patterns and colors all the way as well, correct? Is it even possible to tell what morph they were going to turn out to be in a clutch where phenotypes are very similar and morph IDing is determined by slight differences such as eye color?
 
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