Blues hatching!!

[Katt]

Day 63, checked the eggs to see how they were doing.

Well one baby is totally out and two have slit. I hope the other five are a-ok.

Anyway, sooo excited!!!!

[Simon]

Nice~!!

Can't wait to see the photos soon!!!

I DEMAND PHOTOS!!!!

[AgaR]

wouhou congrats!!!! :D
pix pix pix!!!!!!!! :D
Cya
Alex

[Katt]

I'll take pics when some more are out.

I keep harassing the eggs, I know I will leave them alone. At least they'll have a few hours while I sleep and while I'm at work.

I hope they all hatch. Quite a few are really caved in. They caved in early on and just didn't seem to plump up again even with extra water and being buried in the vermiculite. I think next year I will go the way of Roy's egg crate on vermiculite.

[Simon]

I know how that feels~~
The wait is so hard~!!

But I can't wait to see some of those beauties coming out~

Beauty hatchlings are so cute~~

[Stockwell]

Best of luck to you with these Katt. Don't mess with them too much and dont worry about them caving in.
Most of my everglades eggs caved in quite badly,a couple weeks before they pipped, but with no holes in the boxes this year, and a virtual pool of water under the vermiculite, I knew the atmosphere must be 100%. So I just left them and every damn one hatched..
Now with my old method without the egg crates, and with holes in the containers I would have made the incorrect assumption that they were dehydrating and probably would have made them too wet by adding more water. I used to lose eggs on the bottom every year because they would be right in the vermiculite and would absorb too much water...

[Katt]

Well so far two are out, and they are both kinked. One baby appears dead in the egg.

The rest haven't pipped and I will leave them alone. I'm pretty bummed out right now. I think I will be keeping these two li'l kinkers as I think the bumps on their spine will grow out.

I hope the rest do better, but right now I don't have much hope.

Just when I thought breeding was fun.

[Katt]

I lay in bed crying, tonight, over the li'l blues. I couldn't sleep and figured what have I to lose? I cut them open, I found three very deformed babies. Curled up so tight they were fused to themselves. Two babies that looked fine, but dead.

One egg I cut open start to leak clear fluid, which none of the other eggs did. I suspected that would be ok. I cut it open enough to see its head and it was actually moving and the body appeared ok. I put it in a moistened deli and placed it into the closet in complete darkess. I will check on it tomorrow.

The other two appear ok. They were moving around and now are coiled up.

Needless to say, I am very disappointed. I know that it can take some time to tweak incubation techniques to get it down pat, but I can't help, but feel discouraged. This is the first time I have ever bred an asian rat, and I suppose I am lucky that I have at least two, if not three babies that are ok. I have hope for our other clutches which appear nice and turgid, no caving in.

The blues were what I was looking forward to most this season. I had hoped to buy blues from others to have several bloodlines, as I really love these long and whippy snakes. Now I only hope and pray that the babies that have made it will eat and thrive.

Took sometime to look at the mex blks. Four out of seven have eaten twice, three remain stubborn. I'm not that worried. They are at least perfectly formed, perfect little replicas of their parents.

This snake biz can be full of so much shine and bright, but sometimes, it can be so full of dark and bitter.

Anyways, sorry to unload, but I figure only fellow ssnakess will know how I'm feeling right now.

Best of luck to everyone and their breeders, babies and clutches.

[vanderkm]

So glad to hear that you at least have a couple from that clutch Katt - and so sorry to hear about those that were deformed. Anyone who has hatched any clutches has some idea what you are going through. We have so much to be thankful for when things work out well, and so much to learn from when they don't. Glad the little mex blacks are doing well - sure the others will eat when they are ready - they are just little piggies once they get going.

mary v.

[Stockwell]

So sorry Katt.. You should review your incubator setup. Kinking is usually the result of temperature inconsistancies specificially temps that are too high.
I can't quite recall what you are using for an incubator but if its getting too hot, you might need to look at a different design and sometimes just leaving eggs in the herp room on a shelf can yield perfect results with no special controls.

Hopefully you'll get some good babies, and you're right herp breeding has its up and downs.
I've had entire litters of slugs from rosy boas, a litter of 23 dead Brazilian rainbows, and once a clutch of beautiful Greers kings that hatched but died due to dessication in the vermiculite, while still in the egg tray.. simply because I was away on business.
You're having much better success than previous years, so keep your head up...It takes a few seasons to hone your skills
There's always more clutches to come, and new things to look forward to.

[Invictus]

I'm so sorry Katt. :( I was really hoping you'd have a good success rate with these too, not just because I wanted one, but because I know how excited you were. Next year for sure will be better for both of us! Keep your chin up girl.

[gonesnakee]

The clear fluid one is a good sign more often than not Katt. Don't feel bad, whats done is done & chances are it may have all been results of things that were beyond your control. I've had to deal with a few screwed up babies this year also & euthanized my first one of the year just the other day. Remember lifes a constant balance & for everything thats good theres always something bad. Live & learn & keep on living is about all ya can do. Good Luck with the rest. Mark

[Katt]

Thanks for the chip up guys. I'm tearing up right now as we speak. The dead bodies are still in their container from last night I can't bear to look at them or even take pictures. I think I will ask Vanan to.

The two that hatched appear to be ok, and the blue whose egg I cut absorbed all his yolk. I found him with his umbilicus attached to the egg still. The mucus had dried so it was stuck. I helped him detach and then he sucked his umbilicus in. There's just a wee bit hanging off. I think he will be ok.

As I said, the eggs collapsed/caved in, very early on during their incubation. I shoud have taken a picture, but I didn't want to bother the eggs more. I didn't expect that all would hatch out, but I did not think that five would turn out bad.

If you recall the eggs were long and thin. One had collapsed so bad, that it was practially bent in half. The beauty was in one end and the yolk in another. I believe the kinks are due to the eggs being caved and dimpled thus the babies could not grow properly, not enough room to stretch out so to speak. The kinks are more up and down rather than side to side relative to the snakes body. They appear better today than yesterday, less noticeable.

Right now, I'm just glad that three are alive. That's three more blues than I had yesterday. All of them are little miracles, and more so since they survived.

At least momma is alive and well and eating. I will have a chance again to produce blues, and for that I am thankful. I would rather lose a clutch than lose mom.

[Jeff_Favelle]

I'm glad you got three beauties! The world has 3 more cool snakes that it had yesterday, so its not all bad. :)

[Vanan]

:) Thanks for your kind words guys. Katt needed that. Here's to hoping those that didn't make it, didn't die in vain.