Egg Help

Thank you guys. Really means a lot for your help. They have been in Rubbermaid containers.

Thank you for the info on what your experience was when cutting out after the three day mark. It seems that there's a window between when to cut and when it's too late. I'm just not sure when that window is....or if it may already be to late. I really thank you for the info.

Anyone have any words of wisdom on when you would help an egg and cut it open or when you would let it go?

Thanks again.


That sucks to hear:( I would not cut any of them open only for curiosity not to try and keep the hatchling alive. What I would come up with is that adding water triggered them to hatch early and they are not fully developed so they do not have enough strength to pip the egg.
 
Not to drive you bonkers with conflicting advice but I'd say cut all shrunken eggs IMMEDIATELY. If they just started to sweat, give them at least a day but if the sweating is over and some shriveling is appearing you should cut. What more influence do you need than that rotten baby in your picture.
 
Thanks guys. Still no pipping this morning. I think I'm going to have to cut them open......I really don't want to cut them open. :( I'm going to give it until the afternoon and go from there. If they haven't already died in the egg, I don't think a few more hours can hurt.
 
BTW....if you cut an egg open the baby will likely lay there as if it is dead.
Why not try one first...if you really do decide to do it?
 
BTW....if you cut an egg open the baby will likely lay there as if it is dead.
Why not try one first...if you really do decide to do it?

Thank you for the response. Do you have any suggestions on how to go about the process of cutting an egg. The one that I cut was very tough, and even if there was a live baby, I'm sure it could have gotten hurt in the process. I do have an exacto knife.
 
I don't cut my eggs open as a rule...I'm afraid of cutting the baby...and you don't know what end the head is at either....so I hope someone who has done it will give you some pointers.
 
If you lived nearby I'd lend you my dissection kit with my scalpels, because they're sharper than exactos, but unfortuantely I don't. I can't give you any direct experience tips, only lots of dissection experience, but take a new exacto blade and try pinching a small fold (to minimize going through and cutting the embryo), with tweezers if you have to, I know these eggs are small, and gently stroking it with the blade to slowly cut it, instead of just trying to slice it in one go. And keep going until you have a long enough slit to see what's going on.

Again, this isn't direct egg-cutting experience, so take it with caution, but it's the technique I would try if I had to without tips from anyone. :/ Best of luck!
 
@ Olympia- Thank you for the input. That is actually a really good idea. I have a set of tweezers and the exacto. I still haven't done it yet. I'm afraid I'll kill them. :eek:

@ Kinyonga- Have you ever had this happen where the babies weren't coming out when they were supposed to? If so, what happened? Did you just let nature take it's course?
 
I've only had it happen a couple of times with only one or two eggs in a clutch. The shell was thick and tough to cut. Since I've never compared the thickness/toughness of the shells of the ones that hatched to the ones that didn't I don't know if that was the reason. I also opened one Parson's egg that I had incubated for almost a year...and that shell was tough...but it was also likely only half way through incubation and hadn't thinned out yet.
 
This egg started collapsing yesterday morning. It sweat and shrank well over a week ago. I hope I'm not too late. I was extremely careful not to touch the neonate with any metal. His nostril is exposed. There is alot of mush looking material around him. I also hope he is fully developed. He is not moving, and it seemed that the shell of the egg was kind of stuck to his eye area. I did not try to hard to remove that area for fear of hurting him.

neonate.jpg
 
I have a clutch of faly's hatching out right now too. The first one to come out sweated for 2 days then pipped but blew out both ends of the egg. After two days of sitting in the shell I freaked out and cut the shell off of him. He wasn't moving and still had a large yolk on him, I feared the worst. Figuring I had jumped the gun I got scared and left him in the vermiculite, trying to put the shell around him the best I could. After another day and a half like that, spraying him to keep him moist, he woke up and is doing well. It dont look good for that little guy, but give em a lil bit before you give up on him.
 
Thank you for all the support, help, and words of wisdom everyone. I was going to post a follow up yesterday, but was a little upset by the whole situation. After waiting 8 months....it's sucks to be loosing your clutch. So, there's only two full eggs left. I cut the others open, and they all look about like the neonate in that picture.

Like you said Scott, I've been keeping them moist since yesterday, but I don't think it's looking good. I think I'm loosing the entire clutch. Hopefully the last two will hatch, but judging by what's happened, I'm not really feeling positive about it. Congrats on your baby! That's very cool he came through. :)

I don't know what caused this. It was Karma's first clutch. I know that I have been tending to the eggs 100%. Not trying to take the blame off of myself, but I think there was something wrong with the eggs in the beginning. We started with 16 eggs, and down to 12 after 4 went bad. Then 3 where the yolk filled looking eggs that I didn't expect to hatch. And all the healthy eggs where way different in sizes. I don't know....It's all learning. Just have to move on and tend to the next clutch.
 
It's all still about the same. All the neonates I cut open look perfectly formed, like they are just sleeping. Still, there is no movement from them. I don't think it's looking good. There are still two eggs left that sweat and shrank yesterday. I'm just going to let them go until they either hatch or shrink up and die. Pretty much totally sucks, but that's how nature works I guess.
 
Aww I'm sorry to hear that it looks grim. I can only imagine the frustration of waiting so long and then to have only a couple or none survive. Hopefully those last two are going to be your miracle eggs! I've got all my fingers and toes crossed for them and for the open egg hatchlings as well.
 
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