The Foxloft

2008 Baby Ball Pythons Hatching

Here you can see baby ball pythons hatching - it is a slow process for them. First, they use their egg tooth (a small, sharp cutting device on the upper lip) to break out of the tough, leathery shell of the egg. Often they make many slits before they use one to poke their heads through.

During incubation, the egg shell itself serves as a 'lung' - with veins across the inside of its surface for air exchange. Once the snake detaches these by moving around and cutting the shell, there is no going back. They start breathing air - you can see all the bubbles here, a good sign everything is progressing well!

Peekaboo! The hatching process is slow - from the time the snakes break through the egg, it is generally 24-48 hours before they come out into the world. They use this time to rest (hatching is an exhausting experience!) and absorb any yolk still outside their bodies, closing off their umbilical area. If disturbed, they will often pull their heads back inside and 'hide' in their eggs.

Here is a group shot of the seven eggs, all hatching at the same time. The egg on the far upper left is the only one I had to 'slit', or help to hatch by making a small incision in the egg surface. All those other slits and slices were made by the baby snakes themselves.

Here you can see me using a small cuticle scissors to 'slit' an egg. All of the other eggs had begun hatching already so I helped this one along to make sure everything was alright. Sometimes baby ball pythons are unable to slit the egg on their own and can perish without help. Slitting eggs is just a safeguard procedure.
I carefully pinch the egg at the top and use the scissors to cut a shallow, small line on top of the egg. You have to be very careful to avoid any veins. If they are still attached to the top of the shell, the snake isn't ready to hatch yet. You can use the scissors to widen the line into a 'flap' - a triangular slit or window on the top of the egg.

Here you can see as soon as the egg was slit, clear fluid starts leaking from the egg. There was a lot of pressure in this egg, and fluid - so I pressed gently on the top of the egg to let some of it leak out. This creates an air pocket at the top of the egg, allowing the snake to come up and breathe if it wants to.

This clutch began hatching on 7/7/2008. Click on the photos for more information on the hatching process and how eggs are manually 'slit' to help the snakes along. Back to babies available for sale!

Updated: July 22nd, 2008

This page created and maintained by Foxfeather R. Ženková All rights reserved. © 2007 Foxfeather