Cornsnake eggs

[Bushbaby]

Yesterday I checked up on my cornsnake eggs. They are due any time from the 16th. One had gone off since the last time I checked on them. Another had little worms ontop of it. I picked it up and some fluids ran out of the egg. I put it seperate from the rest of the eggs to keep an eye on it. I found one or two tiny flies in the container this morning and decided to cut open the egg cause I don't want to risk any of my other eggs getting eaten by flies just because of one little egg. This is what I found. The baby did not move so I assume it must've stopped growing at some stage in it's development.

[Irock]

Very interesting!!!

Is it "normal" for there to be worms on it and flies buzzing round? Definitely better to sacrifice one egg instead of the whole lot possibly!

What morph corns are they? What are the parents?

I can't wait to breed my first bunch in a few year's time!!! lol

[Bushbaby]

Irock, no it's not normal to have worms/maggots on the eggs and little flies buzzing around. I think they are called carrion (sp?) flies, or humpback flies. I think the baby stopped developing and somehow it was targeted. Out of a clutch of 19 eggs, I have 14 left.

They are just normal little cornsnakes, I can't wait to see them hatch out. Hope I get that on camera.

[Gary]

Shame BB it seems that there are eggs that do go off from time to time, but then having 14 eggs left is still a nice clutch, how many days are they now. I had some eggs hatch just after Xmas at 68 days I also cut 10 of these eggs and all the babies come out.

Regards

[Bushbaby]

On the 15th they will be at 60 days. So holding thumbs!!

[Gary]

Good luck holding thumbs, this year things in the cape seem to be a bit late. Dont know why, I upped my temp in the incubator yet eggs took longer to hatch.

Regards

[Dentech]

The carrion flies target ill smelling eggs first, but the maggots that hatch have no scruples eating into any egg they can reach, in 2005 I lost about 40 eggs because of them, they spread like wildfire in an incubator. Now I put every egg container in pantyhose, it worked well this season, I saw them flying around, but not one egg was targeted.

[Gary]

That sounds like a brilliant idea, I do not get that problem, but I am hoping to convert a fridge for an incubator, mine is very basic at the moment. How long do your eggs take to hatch?

[Bushbaby]

Guess what I happened across tonight when I checked my eggs which should be due anytime now!!!!



Whoohoo!! I'm so excited. First eggs of the season!! Hope the rest also cut, else I will be cutting the eggs tomorrow.

[Mongoose]

cool bananas!

[Pythonodipsas]

nice documenting the hatching like this!

[Bushbaby]

lol Yeah, I'll take pics again tonight. Only another egg had been cut by this morning. I will wait till tomorrow before cutting eggs which have not cut yet. These eggs were laid on the 16th November 2006 which makes it exactly 60 days from laying to the first baby cutting.

[Gary]

Well done BB very nice I have got eggs which are 60 days today but no slits yet.

[Dentech]

My cornsnake eggs took 59 days and the kings and milks 60 days. I usually cut all the eggs the same day that the first snake cuts on it's own. I have not had any losses because of that, but I did get a lot of dead babies that where not able to cut the eggs by themselves in the past. I heavilly supplement my females with calcium in the breeding season, that may be the reason that the eggs are too tough for the babies to cut sometimes.

[Gary]

Dayne what temp do u incubate at.