Pythons are FINALLY hatching!

[IcyWolf]

So at 6:30am on day 65 we FINALLY have a head poking out of an egg! I say finally because when incubated at 89 degrees they usually hatch on day 60(sometimes as early as day 52). I've been talking to other snake breeders and they all keep telling me my temps must be lower than I think but I have two thermometers in the incubator that both have read 89 degrees for the entire incubation period so who knows. I cut the eggs on day 60 and we have been monitoring them closely and I've been getting several texts a day asking, "did the snakes hatch yet?" And they are finally coming! Unfortunately I am unable to record them hatching. It will most likely take all day for all five to fully emerge and my camera is giving me problems. Keep getting lens errors and when I finally got the stupid thing to work I realized that it won't record while it's plugged in and there is no way it will last more than an hour recording without being on the charger. I even tried putting my phone in there to record and between trying to prop it up so that you can actually see the eggs yet still have the lid on the incubator has been troublesome, then when I finally got it set up I realized it's too dark in there to even record :20: So I will just take lots of pictures and that will have to do Here's the first baby, it's a little normal, we have some pastel babies too, can't wait until they all come out!

 

[Safira]

Are those ball pytons?! Are you selling the babies? I want one! I love ball pythons. You're expecting pastels? I don 't have one, I use to but had to give it away when I joined the Navy a few years back.

I can't wait to see more pictures! Let me know how much you want for one, I may have to take a drive up your way!

 

[PortaPerch]

It's in a bird's DNA to fear snakes. Even a stick in the shape of a snake can cause momentary fright.

 

[Safira]

Yes it is, which is why mine would be kept in a seperate room.

 

[RescueMe]

SSOOOOO cute! isn't it funny that some people would be terrified of snakes and yet all I can do is say aaawwwweeeee

 

[evesta]

Snakes and reptiles frighten me, although that baby is kind of cute. I don't mind them if I see them coming though and I can watch them from a safe distance. One day I was watching a garter snake play in my pond. It was so cute, he was frolicking under the waterfall and opening his mouth to drink. The uncute pond/snake story is when my pump got jamed and I stuck my hand in the skimmer to pull out the leaves I thought was blocking it and instead grabbed on to the tail of the snake that got caught in it. Yuck, the things I do to keep a pond!

 

[IcyWolf]

@Safira, I'm not sure if we are going to have any available or not yet. We were originally going to keep one but now SO is saying he wants to keep two of them I'm trying to talk him out of it though. I'm sure we will have more babies again sometime and I think keeping just one would be better IMO. My brother is taking one, my mom said she wanted one but I need to confirm with her if she still wants one, and one of my baby bird parronts said she wants one as well. If we only keep one then I may have one for you, or if my mom decides she doesn't want one, I'll let you know!

The baby that was coming out came out about half way and I realized he had gotten tangled in his umbilicus! This is definitely my luck, first snake to ever hatch and he is tangled, go figure. We managed to back him up so that we could slip him out of the knot he had made and he is now back in his egg with just his head poking out. He also has a large portion of his yolk sac still intact and he is VERY skinny. I can only assume he knotted himself up a few days ago and hasn't been absorbing his yolk and therefore not getting any food. I'm hoping that he will stay in his egg and continue to absorb the rest of that yolk and plump up a bit. I just hope he makes it. I took some pics before we untangled him and I'm quite proud that we even got him untangled, I've found pictures of the exact same thing happening online and everyone says there is no way to untangle the cord, but there is, you just have to manage to get the snake to go backwards and back out of the knot the same way he managed to make it, not an easy task, I will tell you. I just hope we didn't stress him out too much in the process, we did it as calmly and quickly as possible but we couldn't just leave him all knotted up.

Here you can see how big his yolk sac still is and how skinny he is

His size really worries me, he looks starved! I'm actually surprised he's still alive being this skinny, hopefully now that the umbilicus is untangled he will absorb the rest of his yolk but I'm not sure what kind of damage may have been done from it being pinched.

 

[IcyWolf]

It's in a bird's DNA to fear snakes. Even a stick in the shape of a snake can cause momentary fright.

Our snakes have their own room away from the birds. The incubator with the eggs is in the same room as the birds but they don't seem to mind at all, ziggy, the alex actually climbed down her cage and was hanging off looking at me checking the eggs earlier.

 

[Safira]

LoL maybe she was thinking 'lunch?

Some birds do eat snakes, though not so much parrots. I saw a hawk flying with a snake in its mouth, it was wicked!

Icy, if you do let me know.. if not no worry. I'm in no hurry for another animal, though I do miss having a snake (and balls are my absolute favorite, and the only kind I would own.) I always wanted a piebald Ball.... if only I had the money.

 

[ann]

they are so cute! i love snakes! i cant wait to see more pics <3. good luck with the thin baby, is it possible to feed them yourself, like mash up a cricket for him or something?

 

[IcyWolf]

LoL maybe she was thinking 'lunch?

Some birds do eat snakes, though not so much parrots. I saw a hawk flying with a snake in its mouth, it was wicked!

Icy, if you do let me know.. if not no worry. I'm in no hurry for another animal, though I do miss having a snake (and balls are my absolute favorite, and the only kind I would own.) I always wanted a piebald Ball.... if only I had the money.

I love the pieds! And they are coming down in price but still too rich for my blood. I will find out asap if we will have one, I'd love for you to get one. Also need to make sure all of these babies live first too before I start assigning them homes. We will be super bummed if we loose any but I know things happen sometimes so I'm just trying to prepare myself for that just in case.

@ann, You can actually cut the umbilicus and then inject chicken egg yolk directly up the remaining cord and into the snakes belly but I really don't want to have to do that if it's not necessary. I'm hoping he just absorbs the rest of his own yolk.

 

[Safira]

I will think good snake-thoughts so you don't loose any babies!

 

[evesta]

Huh, I never really thought that snakes have umbilical cords. I find all of it very interesting, thanks for sharing. I saw the mama garter snake again today by the pond. I think they have a nest under my porch, lots of old leaves to hide in. And I saw another baby snake under my cat mint when I was cutting it down yesterday. I haven't seen the bull snakes yet but they have a hole under the front tree. One thing about having a pond all the wildlife comes about, which is one reason I love keeping a pond. My scottie is a fierce snake hunter but she has slowed down now that she is coming up on 11. My cairn is more interested in squirrels.
Good luck with your babies!!!

 

[GiosMom]

I live in the Everglades....we got us some snakes!!

 

[mrgoogls]

very cool!! i dont have a ball myself but i love them! i have a corn and a jungle carpet. and a beardie and a leo....lol

 

[aliray]

living in the everglades is really neat but a 20 foot burmese python going thru my back yard might send me over the edge. I love my corn snakes and black racers that live in the yard I live near englewood fla. however my nextr door neighbor has killed two water moccasins that were resting in his yard next to his doggie pet door. Hopefully they will stay in his yard. Coming from mass. I never watched where I was sticking my hand when weeding Now I am alittle more careful when poking in a shrub.The neighbors around here have also had pigmy rattlers in their yards and garages. I love venom er. Alison and sweetie pie

 

[IcyWolf]

Thank you all for your comments.

Evesta, we have a large pond as well and it's wonderful. Loads of baby toads and frogs running around right now and we even have a few snapping turtles. We just caught one last week that was huge, I'll post some pics of her.

3 babies now have their heads out and are breathing air, even the skinny one looks to be doing okay. The other two are still in the amniotic fluid but are still moving so they should be coming out any time now

 

[Safira]

THAT IS CREEPY.. Gah >.<

I use to live in Florida, various parts so yes.. use to the crawlys.. and gators.. But ugh.. I'll stick with my little snakes.. and that turtle.. gah! Ugly, mean... bitey thing.

 

[IcyWolf]

Two of the babies are out now. The one is a female pastel, the other is a male, I can't tell if he is a pastel or a light normal. Two of them are still in their eggs(on day 67), they are definitely alive, just still haven't come out. The second baby pictured is the one that had his umbilicus knotted around his body. He is really skinny There was also a mass inside his egg, it wasn't his yolk sac, that was there too, but it was this semi hard, whitish mass, I'm wondering if he didn't originally have a twin that died in the egg. The mass smelled really bad like a dead animal would. Sorry for that graphic tidbit, here's some pics.

baby 1: Pastel Female

Baby 2: Male

 

[Parrotmamma]

Awe, he's so cute . I hope he makes it . That was amazing that you got him unknotted .