Da Beast *VERY GRAPHIC!!!*

[Katt]

Unfortunately, not all the babies hatched successfully. The last two eggs I slit myself b/c I was concerned about them, considering last years horrifically kinked jungle corns and full term dead babies. After work today, we found #6 and #7 had hatched out. I was concerned about the last egg b/c when I slit it, I saw a lot of goo. Today, after cutting it more, I decided to just dump the contents of the egg as I was sure, that something was wrong with the baby inside.

We first coaxed #6 and #7 out. Number six turned out to be a beautiful black baby, the blackest baby, so I gave her to Vanan. Number seven turned out to be a nice li'l baby, big!

When we dumped the last egg out on to paper towel, this is what we found.

It was quite a mess at first.

<img src="http://img48.photobucket.com/albums/v147/Kattia/Kings/monster2.jpg">

Something obviously went wrong early in incubation. The tweezers are pointing to where the heart was actually beating. It was truly frightening.

<img src="http://img48.photobucket.com/albums/v147/Kattia/Kings/monster3.jpg">

It appears as the brain is actually coming out the top of the head. That jaws are totally mismatched.

<img src="http://img48.photobucket.com/albums/v147/Kattia/Kings/monster1.jpg">

The body has attached to itself.

<img src="http://img48.photobucket.com/albums/v147/Kattia/Kings/monster4.jpg">

The most horrific thing was that it was alive with the heart beating, and it actually twitched. The jaws opened and closed. The tail was totally kinked. See the second pic. The tongue EVEN FLICKED. Utterly gruesome. We inspected the creature for a bit while we figured out what things we were seeing, and then cut the heart, yolk and allantois (the yellow bulb).

[concept3]

i feel sorry for the little guy, congrats on the others tho.

[Brian Petersen]

ahhh so sorry to see and hear that.
But also at some point "good" to see it´s not always nature gives us the best.

Again sorry for the loss.

Regards

Brian

[corrado]

Sorry for you Katt those thing happen

Sebastien

[Tim_Cranwill]

It's too bad that it has to work out that way sometimes... :(

good luck with the rest of them, Katt. :)

[Katt]

Actually Vanan and I aren't too saddened by this little guy. If it means that all the rest do well, then I simply have no problems with this one being as messed up as it is. One baby compared to an entire loss of a season (last year's horrible incubator problems) it's not that bad.

On the flip side, I feel terrible for this one's suffering and I was very glad to end its life. I'm not sure if it even felt anything, but I'm hoping it didn't.

It was quite an interesting experience. I have never seen how well vascularized the yolk and allantois is. The attachment to the body was also interesting, and just how everything fit inside the egg.

Hopefully the rest of the season's clutches aren't nearly as "interesting". Thought you guys might "enjoy" the pics in morbid curiosity. When I first slit the egg, it actually bled, and now I know why. There are many blood vessels attached to the inside of the egg, very well attached.

I would have liked to have opened the snake to see how the organs looked, but I do not have a sharp enough scalpel to do that and I did not want to make a mess of things.

[gonesnakee]

Gross eh! I guess MotherNature didn't let that one pip on its own for a reason eh! Such is life, Mark

[Classic]

Thanks for the post. Very interesting. Good luck with the rest.

Brian

[crimsonking]

Katt, I thought I told you not to slice them open.!lol! ewww!
I simply would rather not see a deformed snake that was obviously doomed, so that's why I never do. It always bums me out. Glad the others are fine. For me, if the baby can't make his way out of the egg, well, I just won't cut the egg. I'm a sissy.
I have had a few clutches of various species that took nearly a week from the time the first crawled from the egg 'til the last, and I have opened one or two too soon as well.
:Mark

[Simon]

I'd say that those are some interesting pictures.
I have cut open a couple of eggs before but nothing that still moves....

I would say that it is quite and experience~ Wouldn't you say that Katt? It is very interesting to see that it was still alive...but I do feel sad for the poor little one.

Some are just not meant to be~

Anyway congrats on the others taht have hatched out sucessfully.

[Stockwell]

I'm with Mark on this one!! Don't be cutting colubrid eggs too soon.. I've had hognose snakes sit in a shell for a almost a week... This in fact is quite common for many species. Snake eggs are also laid at different degrees of embryo developement, and the resulting non simultaneous hatching might actually be a form of natural predation protection.
Slitting the shell can somtimes make spunky colubrids, "jump the shell" and if that breaks the yolk off, its bad news, and leaves skinny weakies.
I also have the philosophy that snakes that can't hatch on their own, shouldn't be in the future's captive gene pool.
Congrats on those great healthy babies!!

[manville]

I just want to point out something. Those are incredible pictures.

[vanderkm]

Great pics - sorry that this one was a failure but there is always a percentage that are. I am with Roy - anything that can't hatch on its own shouldn't be contributing genes to the next generation - but can't resist looking at those that are doomed - such a variety of abnormalities - does make you wonder about what might have been the cause.

mary v.

[Invictus]

Eek... those pics actually made me physically shudder.

[Katt]

I pipped two eggs, the one with the monster and the last female. She actually choose not to use the slit I created and instead slashed all over her egg and decided to pip out of the hole furtherst away from the slit I made.

I'll be leaving the eggs for the rest of the season alone, but I just couldn't take it b/c I felt something was wrong. Turns out I was right!

[Will]

Wow, those pics are fascinating in a grotesque kind of way. Very interesting to get a glimpse at what goes on in there. Hope the rest of the season goes smoothly...