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Posted by Fred A. on December 10, 1999 at 13:33:26:
In Reply to: Thanks for your replies Chuck and Fred, I have a theory...please read... posted by Dean Alessandrini on December 09, 1999 at 17:51:13:
: The info you provided will be very useful. Here's an interesting thing i've noted, i'd be interested in hearing if you or other Eastern Indigo breeders have had similar experiences. i've produced babies 3 years in a row and have had this experience all 3 years: Snake eggs in general (now this is my guess) probably only retain a strong odor in the wild for a day or two after being laid,(while momma's scent is still strong on them) and that would be prime time for predation. it would seem that if they make it past the first few days they should be relatively safe until hatching begins (when the strong odor is present) Now in all of the other colubrids and boids, in my experience, at least, once the first baby "pips", they all seems to be pretty much out within 24 hrs. this would make sense of course because they are laid together and exposed to the same environmental conditions. But it would also help them get away while the gettin's good. Now here's the part that boggles me about my indigos. Although i kept the clutches together, they seemed to develop at different rates. As much as 2 weeks has gone by between the pipping of the first and last babies. they all eventually hatch (except for an occational dead-in-egg baby)
: Once i panicked and cut open an egg a week after the first had hatched and found a healthy, but somewhat underdeveloped, small baby. i managed to save it, and the rest all eventually hatched in to healthy babies. i had a friend who locally who has a similar experience. if this is happening in the wild, it could be seriously increasing the predation rate of the babies.
: your thoughts?
Dean,
I have experienced similar staggering of hatch times in my clutches. Last year a clutch hatched out, all except one who took about another week to pip. I also noticed that invariably the ones that hatch the last are usually smaller than their brethern. I really hesitate to cut open the eggs, as I have had fellow breeders inadvertantly kill the neonates because of premature artificial "pipping" done by us humans. I've had eggs that I wrote off as being bad and considered discarding turn around and hatch 4 days later. Hope this helps you.
Fred
