And do I know what this might be Elijah? ![]()
You may here soon! ![]()
A day late, but here’s this week’s update!
Kimball’s clutch is now three weeks deep into incubation and we’re trucking along!
You may notice we’re down one - I did decide to finally pull the questionable egg, as it still showed no development this far along and was beginning to grow a bunch of mold on the underside, as well as just looking small and sad.
Meanwhile, Ororo’s all are looking solid and candling with great veins 10 days deep!
11 potatoes total baking, cannot be more excited for late August!
Bonus content - the life is very strong in Kimmy’s eggs!
So excited for you to be able to greet all of these babies! I LOVE LOVE LOVE that precious little baby video!!! ![]()
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Thank you, Caron! I’ll get more candling pictures next update for sure, maybe video if it seems like there’s enough of a difference. That being said, I think this baby already chose their name - I’m gonna call them Flicker! ![]()
You’re really having quite the “potato” party at your house! Looks like nearly all of them are developing beautifully. ![]()
Absolutely! And on that note, not only have I decided the names for Kimball’s clutch - Blink, Flash, Flicker, Glimmer, and Shimmer - but I think that helped me decide what Ororo’s clutch will be; potato varieties! Russet is gonna be a must ![]()
Spud, Tater Tot, Hash Brown, Home Fry, Shoestring, Mashed, Sweet, Baled, Stewed, Red, Golden, French Fry, Crinkle, Au Gratin, Scalloped, and the list just goes on and on!!! ![]()
And those are just the different ways to cook them! You also have the different cultivars - Russet, Yukon, Norkotah, Espirit, Flava, Burbank… It really does just go on and on! ![]()
Yeah but I like Tater Tot much better than Burbank! ![]()
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I also like Tater Tot - but now I have Burbank stuck in my head!
Update Wednesday!
Only took pics of Kimmy’s clutch today - all 5 looking wonderful and candling nice and strong. We’re about at the halfway point now with these guys, and I think it shows! Starting to see more twitching/movement in the eggs!
I did take notice that the one I left in the upper right corner of the tub seems to still be slightly dimpled, while the ones I moved to the bottom row all plumped back out quite nicely. I also noticed in Ororo’s clutch that they all similarly dimpled like Kimball’s did early on, but again the ones closest to the heat tape seemed more so despite my humidity gauge still clocking at 99% and temps looking to be 88-89. I did go ahead and rehydrate the vermiculite on the side closest to the heat tape by dumping a little bit of water along the edges of the egg box and turned down the thermostat just a hair. 5 are still candling well about 2-3 weeks in, while 1 seems to now be candling more yellow and while I can see veins, they look really spotty, almost like they’ve begun to disintegrate. I have a feeling this egg will not make it, but we’ll give it more time to wait and see.
I didn’t take pictures of them as to avoid keeping the lid open any longer than it took to check them and apply a little more water. Hopefully next week they’ll look a little more like Kimmy’s eggs!
Early morning update since yesterday’s nap turned into a full blown sleepytime. ![]()
We have both good, bad, and interesting to share. We’ll start with the good!
All 10 remaining eggs look like they’re doing alright, including Kimball’s clutch despite an unfortunate fall of the egg box. They still show good veins and have yet to go bad 19 days away from their due date. One of them is notably more deflated/less taut than the others, but it has been like that for some time even before the drop and is still showing good veins, so we’re trucking along with incubation. Ororo’s 5 potatoes are also doing great and are now sitting around the halfway mark!
The bad; you may have noticed I said 10 remaining eggs, when we last had 11. The suspect one in Ororo’s clutch unfortunately did go bad, producing an unpleasant odor and going wet/moldy. Based on the stench alone I could tell the egg was no longer viable and decided to pull it.
The interesting; I did decide out of curiosity to do a dissection of the egg. The yolk and whites of the egg had begun to solidify, and I was able to find the embryo before it’d begun to decay. It was maybe about 3" long and looked like a little pink worm more than anything, though had a definable head and a very developed eye. If I can figure out how to upload pictures under a filter, I’ll post them for those curious to see what a 2-3 week ball python embryo looks like! I won’t post them as-is though, as the pictures are a bit gnarly seeing that the stomach cavity never made it around to closing up, so the beginnings of the embryo’s organs are visible.
Hopefully the remaining eggs all make it and everyone pops out healthy. These next three weeks are going to be torture!
Condolences to you Elijah for the recent loss. Concentrating on the notion that nature was taking care of a less than perfect baby and doting on the surviving 10 is the best way to cope, imo.
Things are still looking rosy and before long you will be eyeballs deep in baby ballies! ![]()
It sounds like the fall didn’t cause much harm. That’s really good to hear! Seems like the final countdown to babies is always loooooong. But it really won’t be long now!
Thus far it seems to not have caused any issues! I’ll be looking at them tomorrow for their weekly check in, I’d take a guess and say if they haven’t shown any significant problems or gone bad yet they’ll probably (hopefully) be okay!
Today marks 2 weeks until they’re due to start pipping, as well! They really cannot go fast enough, I’m so excited to finally get to see thes babies!
On a side note, is there a way to post images under a blur/censor filter on here? I’d love to share the pictures of the embryo of the dissected egg, but it’s a tad gross/gory so I wouldn’t want to just post without a warning of some kind.
I have never used it before but there is a “blur” in the filter?, again it must pop up before you post the pic?
I’m no help but I bet you can find it! ![]()
There we go! Graphic content warning, but very fascinating if you have the stomach for it. I’d say the embryo is probably around 2 weeks of development since I had noticed the update prior that the veins had begun to disintegrate on week 2 and went bad on week 3 of that clutch incubating.
Very sad pics but I do have a strong stomach. Nature is so cruel sometimes! ![]()
Unfortunate that the little one didn’t make it ![]()
But if it was never meant to be it was certainly a kind act of nature to keep the little one from suffering life outside of the egg in whatever condition caused it to pass away.
On the science side of things, it is really crazy to see just how much development happens in 2 weeks. I can clearly see the heart, maybe lungs and digestive tract, the eyes and underdeveloped head kind of give me the heebie jeebies but thats just me.
I hope the rest of the clutch continues to go strong for you @emfraise!










