WA BHP eggs, Working through the emotions.

[cement]

With a tear in my eyes, i am putting up this story.

After getting my Wa blackheads to the point of laying 8 perfect eggs, I am now in the twilight zone in "gods hands".

5 years of effort on this project and I could not have been more stoked with the results to this point. Then I read the book.

Last night was day 63 for the eggs, and I took the 58 day average in the "book" as a guide for estimate hatch date. The eggs have been deflating nicely over the last 2 weeks and I have been expecting hatching any day. With no sign of hatching activity i reread the article on BHP from "the Book" and decided that I should pip the eggs. Upon pipping there was a couple that showed some nice color and a couple that showed no color at all, clearly underdeveloped. I freaked. I dreamt of nothing but dead snakes last night and so I decided to give a mate a call.(he bred my ones). He said his shortest inc period was 65-70 days, with them generally going 70 -80 days. I nearly collapsed.

I had cut all my eggs and obviously way too soon. And it was against my instincts to do so too, but I was concerned about the "full term and then death, and the, "I always cut eggs on 60 days which has increased success"
"The book" is now lining my garbage bin.

All I can think of to do is slightly increase temps, and just leave them be.

I hope this may help someone else. I'll update the outcome when i know.

Disclaimer- I in no way hold any authors of "the book" responsible, and that it was my own stupid fault for reading it and going against my gut instinct.

I am open to any ideas that may help.
Where is that heavy bag?

 

[dihsmaj]

Oh my god, that sucks.
I really feel sorry for you...

 

[Chicken]

aww you must feel awful buddy, i'm so sorry to hear that, sorry i don't have much knowledge with this but i just hope it takes a turn for the best Good luck

 

[Ramsayi]

Mine always hatch around 63/63 days.It depends on what you mean "pip" if it's just the traditional small slit in the eggs just leave them be they are close to hatching so should be fine.What is your inc temp?

 

[mrs_davo]

Mate Sorry to hear this, it is really frustrating to do something that you thought was right only to find out that had been led up the garden path. I really don't know but if it was me I would cover the pip holes that you made with gladwrap & keep incubating.

I hope all goes well, sometimes you feel like giving up when you have waited so long, & things go pear shaped, but hang in there. At least you got eggs.

Cheers
Ian.

 

[pythons73]

I no how much these mean to you Cement,all those years to get them to the point of mating,laying eggs.The long wait regarding incubation period.I just hope that some will survive,even thou there been pipped,you may still have some success..Did you notice any moving at all..WA BHP are stunning,and i truely hope some go the distance,and you get a few that will hatch..All the best..

 

[RELLIK81]

hope you all the best.....but wouldnt you love it if they do survive and the ones with no pattern stay that way....mmm patternless BHP's.........

 

[Mace699]

Hey mate i once read an article on google about a man who whad the humidity to high and on of the eggs burst close to hatching he was able to rig up an incubator inside the incubator while the egg still fuilly developed and was able to save the snake. maybe jump on google i cant find it anymore but maybe you will have better luck there was diagrams and photos showing you how to do it though.

 

[solar 17]

Not good news thats for sure, but life sometimes has steep learning curves thats a given and if you dont have them you dont learn unfortunately....mine go every year between 65-67 days @ 31.5.....solar 17 [Baden]...ps l believe you may get some results yet / hang in

 

[yommy]

Mate plenty of people have had eggs hatch out from being cut, slit or split early. I would leave them in the incubator and see how it pans out. Wouldn't give up on them just yet.

Good luck and fingers crossed

 

[Perko]

I have cut eggs ( big z shape cuts ) in eggs before & they have hatched up to a week later. I have heard of a guy cutting them 2 weeks before they were due as he was going on holidays, came back to healthy hatchies.
I wouldnt worry yet.

 

[Den from Den Pythons]

That's no good mate. As others said though, if the cuts made weren't too large just leave them be. If you made massive slits/cut outs I'd advise moving them into a "cleaner environment" (assuming you incubated in vermiculite that is). The idea would be to minimise the amount of bacteria entering the exposed egg and exposed neonate. Place the eggs in a tub layered with damp paper towel, leave them in the incubator and monitor them.

Incubation times for BHPs - The incubation time will vary depending on the heat supplied to the female pre-deposition time and the heat the eggs are incubated at. A rough guide would be 32.5deg incubation - 62-64 days. 31.8deg incubation - 66days average.

Keep us updated mate, pics if you can.

All the best
Den

 

[Mace699]

Hey mate i found that link dont know if its any use or you want to try it thought it was very interesting read though Incubation of snake eggs. may not be nescessary other guys would be better at answering that ?

 

[wokka]

I think the main concern is dehydration and so would aim at having very high humidity. I have cut eggs weeks before hatching with positive results.

 

[AM Pythons]

can someone link the thread by carpetpythons.com that she started last year where she cut eggs early, some of the yanks do this aswell.. all is not lost, keep the humidity high as you can & wait it out..

 

[No-two]

Its been said plenty of times but, I've also cut eggs several days even upto a week before hatching with no problems, I'd say they'll be fine. Good luck.

 

[zulu]

Sorry to hear of your problem graeme,they may be still alright,they are really tough. The smallest of mine was a bit underdeveloped,i took the snake and yolk out accidentally when i was cleaning off vermiculite and poked it all back in the egg and it came good.

 

[cement]

Hey everyone many thanks for the kind words of encouragement.
So far, yesterday I took all the eggs out and thoroughly cleaned and sterilized the egg container, wiping all spilt albumen off the sides of the eggs. I even put a few drops of F10 in the water. I use the no substrate method so the humidity is max. I have raised the temps to 32.5-33 to maybe promote growth. Bacterial infection is my main concern but if its only a week or so I am still optimistic.

Heres a pic of the eggs out while i cleaned the container. And a look inside.

I was incubating at temps that fluctuated between 30 and 31.8.

Would 33 be spiking a bit high?

fingers crossed,cheers

 

[bigguy]

Hey, cleaning the eggs and container with F10 is fine. But its a big NONO to change incubation temps. keep it where it was at 30 to 31.8.

 

[junglecarpet]

My fingers are crossed for you!! I really hope that you have success with these, sounds like its been a long road to get to this point. All the best and I hope we have some great news soon