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.

[Cibach]

This is very exciting, I can't wait to hear that they've hatched and of course to see some photos as appropriate.

[Catherine]

The last few days are always the longest. It sometimes seems like they will never hatch. With luck I can get a newborn picture of the whole clutch together.

I don't think there is an actual term for a newly hatched clutch of baby snakes, but if there was, we would call them a tangle of hatchlings. When you see pictures you will understand why.

They are so cute with the same wide eyed innocence of any baby animal.

[Catherine]

Still waiting. Snake babies like any other babies take their time and are born when they want to be born.

[Cibach]

They'll come when they're ready, it's just that WE'RE ready now!!

I'm sure it can't be long now.

[Catherine]

I checked all the eggs today. They all look just fine, but not one is hatching, not even the slightest sign. We are incubating at a slightly lower temperature this year( a couple of degrees) so it will take longer to hatch.

Watch, I will be climbing the walls waiting for even one egg to hatch and they will all hatch at once.