egg shell stuck

[waynek]

this is the 4th day since this little pygmy hatched . he is walking and climbing with the egg shell stuck to his butt . is this normal ? could he still be absorbing yolk ? should I attempt to remove it and how long should I wait ?

 

[kinyonga]

Never seen that happen before. There is usually an "umbilical cord" involved and tearing it off can lead to bleeding or worse but I would think as the whole egg dries out it should just fall off.

 

[waynek]

I thought just what you did , until the 4th day . I have hatched quite a few different species of reptile , including other chameleons . I have seen an animal stay in the egg for a couple of days , but I had never seen this . this lizard climbed all around the terrarium , I saw it zap a fruit fly and drink water . what I did was I sprayed the egg shell with water a few times in the past 6 hours , then about 2 hours ago I took out the lizard , on a small branch and held the now softened shell with my fingers and prodded the little guy until he got annoyed and pulled himself free . apparently his hind legs were stuck , something I could not see clearly until I put him under the magnifying glass . well live and learn

 

[kinyonga]

So is the hatchling ok??

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

I've had this happen once - the eggshell dried enough to start to shrink so the back legs were stuck in there. I dripped some water down the back so it went into the eggshell, which softened it up enough that the baby was able to squirm out.

 

[waynek]

the hatchling is fine . fixing this problem would have been much easier if it had been a larger species .

 

[waynek]

here's a pic of the little lizard , none the worse for wear . seems fine , ate and drank some water .