How do I?

[ZooKeeperKarin]

The clutchmate to my first successful hatch has not hatched itself (the other hatched 6 days ago). If I decide to cut it open, how do I go about doing this? I candled it last night and see a form inside but no movement.
I'm not sure if I have the stomach for it. lol
Is there a certain way to cut it open?

 

[Enigmatic_Reptiles]

Just make a small slit/cut to drain some of the fluid so you can manipulate the baby so that you don't cut the baby. Then just cut the hole large enough for the gecko to fit through and try to coax it out a bit. With a 6 day gap you may have a dead baby in the egg already...just so you know. Good Luck

 

[ZooKeeperKarin]

Just make a small slit/cut to drain some of the fluid so you can manipulate the baby so that you don't cut the baby. Then just cut the hole large enough for the gecko to fit through and try to coax it out a bit. With a 6 day gap you may have a dead baby in the egg already...just so you know. Good Luck

I figured it's probably dead, poor thing. When I candled it, although I did see a form, it seemed quite a bit smaller than the form I saw from the live baby when it was still in the egg. So I'm guessing it may have died awhile ago. But wouldn't the egg have collapsed and/or molded?

 

[Khrysty]

I figured it's probably dead, poor thing. When I candled it, although I did see a form, it seemed quite a bit smaller than the form I saw from the live baby when it was still in the egg. So I'm guessing it may have died awhile ago. But wouldn't the egg have collapsed and/or molded?

I wouldn't be so sure that it's dead. I mean, there's a possibility, but I had a similar situation yesterday. An egg should have hatched on the 25th and I didn't notice until yesterday. So I cut it open and the little bugger sprung out at me. He was most definitely alive.

 

[ZooKeeperKarin]

I wouldn't be so sure that it's dead. I mean, there's a possibility, but I had a similar situation yesterday. An egg should have hatched on the 25th and I didn't notice until yesterday. So I cut it open and the little bugger sprung out at me. He was most definitely alive.

LOL Congrats! I'll give it a few more days. :main_yes:

 

[ZooKeeperKarin]

Well, I noticed today that the egg started to discolor and dent, so my husband cut it open. (7 days since its clutchmate hatched now). There was a fully formed baby, on the small side but it was dead.

 

[Gregg M]

Sometimes they are just not ment to hatch... I never assist in their hatching... If they are not strong enough to get out of the egg on their own, they are not strong enough to be in my collection...

 

[Agui09]

Sometimes they are just not ment to hatch... I never assist in their hatching... If they are not strong enough to get out of the egg on their own, they are not strong enough to be in my collection...

Thats a little cruel but I guess they wouldn't be very healthy??

 

[Khrysty]

Thats a little cruel but I guess they wouldn't be very healthy??

I understand Gregg's decision to leave them be. It isn't cruel. If they were in the wild, there would be no one there to assist them. They're designed to be able to make it out of the egg. If they aren't able to make it out, there is something wrong with them.

 

[Kristi23]

I'm sorry about the baby. I also agree with Gregg. Sometimes they're just too weak.

 

[Gregg M]

Thanks Khrysty and Kristi...

Thats a little cruel but I guess they wouldn't be very healthy??

Its not cruel... In my opinion, it is cruel to to keep an animal alive that is not strong enough to do so on its own... It is also bad for the captive gene pool to have weak animals added to breeding stock to propagate weak genetics...

Maybe some of the issues in some reptile species are due to people assist hatching their eggs... In the wild, bad genetics are sorted... In captivity, they are allowed to thrive and weaken gene pools...

 

[ZooKeeperKarin]

Sometimes they are just not ment to hatch... I never assist in their hatching... If they are not strong enough to get out of the egg on their own, they are not strong enough to be in my collection...

I completely agree with you. We cut it open to see if we could tell what might have happened. The last time I candled it, there was still no movement, and the shape I had seen a couple days prior had not changed position. And with me being so new to this, I'm not quite sure, but its head seemed to be shorter than I'd figured it should be. Maybe because it was underdeveloped? This was also one of the eggs I had in the incubator when we had a malfunction in that outlet. For one night the power was off and it dropped down to 68' in the incubator.
On the bright side, its clutchmate is doing super well. She's already getting bigger and is eating well. She let me hold her today. :main_rolleyes:

 

[Tommy13b]

I wouldent cut eggs open, if they arnt strong enough to hatch on there own then odds are it wasent ment to be.

 

[roger]

Sometimes they are just not ment to hatch... I never assist in their hatching... If they are not strong enough to get out of the egg on their own, they are not strong enough to be in my collection...

I agree