Weak panther hatchling

[karebear41486]

Hey everyone,
So on Wednesday night I noticed that one of my eggs from a clutch that was layed on 6/26/09 was starting to hatch. The hatchling took until last night to finally come all the way out of the shell, which I understand is completely normal. However, I found him when I got home from work around 11, and he was over to one side of the incubation container with his eyes closed and not moving much. He still had what I think was the yolk sac attached to him, but it was red...is this normal? Anyway, I put him in his own little container with a moist paper towel on the bottom and put him on top of the tv box thing (since it's warmer there). He will take deep breaths, he responds to touch...I was cleaning him off with a toothpick and he was using his hands and gripping and stuff.

I guess my main question, since he still is not at all active, is has anyone else ever experienced something like this? Has anyone ever had a hatchling be so inactive for such a long time? He is basically just alive...but not moving around and hasn't opened his eyes at all yet. His yolk sac came off...I noticed that this afternoon when I came home from class...so he must have been moving around at one point?

Any information anyone has would be greatly appreciated...I just don't quite get why he would have made it this far to just die. I really hope that there is hope...he is my first panther hatchling!

 

[Julirs]

Unfortunalty there is not much you can do. Some do hatch weak and die. I had a few that acted this way, absorbed the yolk, and were fine, and others that were active out of the egg and died a week later. You just never know.

 

[karebear41486]

Its just so sad! He's still alive this morning, and responds when I touch him with a Q-tip, but otherwise is acting the same. I am noticing that his eyes are starting to look more sunken in...probably due to dehydration. Should I try to get some water in his mouth?

 

[fluxlizard]

If they have a lot of yolk still attached when they hatched- that's not a good thing.

I always leave my lizards in the incubation container like I was still incubating them until they loose that, if they have it. Usually they've lost it by the next day if they have it. Red is not good for the color- possibly he had a lot and pulled on it when he started moving about and caused some damage.

If it was my cham, at this point I'd just go ahead and set him up like any other hatchling and see if he makes it or not. I'd mist him too- probably not do anything "heroic" because that might stress him more and kill him. Not much more you can do other than set him up and see what happens...

 

[Seeco]

I think you need to let nature take its course. I have a lot of hatchlings exit the egg but still remain all curled up like they wish they stayed in bed a bit longer. Either keep future hatchlings in the egg box untill all yolk is gone or transfer them to a nice proper cage. If you keep them in the incubator it's ok. I feel like they just assume they are stuck under ground and need more siblings to help dig out -- So they can wait in there for awhile, lie 24-48 hours and it is natural.

There is nothing natural at all about this TV box paper towel thing. That sounds like a torture chamber. Yolk can get stuck to the towel and tear off. Maybe you could tell from experience that this guy was really defective but chances are that he just needed to be left alone. The yolk can get glued to someting like a paper towel and then tear off but nothing bad is gonna happen in the egg container.

Skip class tomorrow and start building good baby cages.

 

[Seeco]

Oh and stop poking him and you don't need to clean them at all.