Waiting for the eggs to hatch

[Catherine]

Nine weeks has gone very fast and the first batch of eggs could start hatching any time now. Pete laid eleven eggs and at last check, six still look good. The others failed early on.
The six that are left, they look very good. They are much bigger and still firm and mold free.

Now I just have to wait. Any day now they will start to cut a slit in the egg and then they will poke their noses out and start air breathing. After that they will rest, inside the egg and finish absorbing the rest of the egg yolk. That yolk will feed them for the first two weeks after hatching. They can wait a day or two before actually leaving the egg.

Once out of the egg they will disappear into the peat moss in the egg box. I usually move them into a bigger container, peat moss and all and let them rest and digest the yolk until they are ready for their first shed in two weeks. Baby snakes are fragile and timid and need to be handled gently so that they do not get scared.

Waiting for the first clutch is hard. After that the next eggs seem to hatch in no time.