What is this? When this little one hatched there was a tiny red umbilical thread, nothing unusual. When I later went to add another baby to this tub this is what I found! The hypo was now much thinner than upon hatching. Some blood in the tub but otherwise seems unaffected.
This came out from the body cavity but the belly has closed up overnight and the baby is still super feisty. Never seen this but new to colubrid breeding. Not seen this in any of the hundreds of python eggs I’ve hatched.
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Looks like what is called hard belly… it happens in bps sometimes. They don’t absorb the yoke properly and it creates a mass like thing. Usually it needs to be massaged out but it looks like your baby did it for you.
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That was my immediate thought but this was not in the digestive tract as you would see in a BP. This was pulled from the umbilical opening as the hatchling was moving around the tub. I had to tie this mass off to stop the bleeding and cut it free! So weird but baby seems fine.
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So some type of hernia where it tried to absorb the yoke but couldn’t.
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Hard belly" is normally a python issue. My understanding is that it occurs very rarely if at all in corn snakes.
I can’t really tell from your photos, but this actually looks like a portion of abdominal contents inside the mesentary. Hatchlings can eviscerate themselves if they haven’t finished absorbing the yolk before emerging from the egg. The yolk sac/stalk acts as a drag on the internal organs as the baby tries to move around. In pain or in fright, it tries harder to get away, herniates massively, and pulls its abdominal contents out through the umbilical opening. I have had it happen to one unfortunate baby in my clutches. I’m sorry to say that this is what it appears to me has happened with your baby.
You say that the umbilical site closed. The body walls’ curvature may have contributed to its looking closed, but there’s no way that the area is really sealed/ healed. The baby is beautiful and I hope I’m wrong, but this looks very grim to me. I’m sorry.
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To me, if this particular snake had eviscerated itself, it would likely have already passed since it has been four days since the original post. I’m not saying it’s not possible, but the tissue doesn’t look like any abdominal contents I’ve seen. Positioning of the tissue, formation of the vessels, and the shape suggest retained yolk sac.
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I don’t disagree, it’s an odd looking mess. I missed that the OP was 4d old. I would love to be pleasantly surprised and learn that this little one survived. I read “much thinner than upon hatching,” “came out from the body cavity,” “pulled from the umbilical opening” and having “to tie this mass off to stop the bleeding and cut it free,” and none of that sounds anything but grave.
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Same, I started to pray, if I am being honest.
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Hopefully there’s an update soon, fingers crossed that the spunkiness after everything was a good sign and not the worst.
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Still alive, gone into shed and otherwise looks perfectly normal. I’ll upload a pic in a mo…
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Gorgeous little one, so glad it’s still alive and looking good!
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Wow! I’m delighted that I was wrong! Still a beautiful baby, and it’s wonderful to see it doing well.
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. I’ll update once again once fed. Fingers crossed…
So beautiful, I am happy to see that he is doing good.
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Update:
It has taken some time but this little one has finally taken it’s first feed. I’ll snap a few update photos once another couple meals have gone down and it’s started to fill out nicley.
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Glad to hear it! It’s a really beautiful snake!
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Awesome update, glad to hear this little one is still going!
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That’s so great! Such a beautiful little baby with such a challenging start. Glad it’s eating!
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