The last baby from Odin & Sunlight’s clutch emerged overnight. When I saw it I had to wonder if it was another twin (had twins in another clutch this season). It seems to be fine and healthy. It’s just teensy.
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This baby’s egg was one which had a wet, uncalcified section of eggshell when first laid. That spot hardened during incubation. Inside, sticking firmly to that hardened bit, I found this odd mess. I don’t know quite what to make of it. It occupied about half of the egg. The hatchling’s umbilical cord was attached to part of it; another part seemed to be a separate thing. Its texture reminded me of unabsorbed yolk in some gravid dissection animals from school. I did not see any gross morphology that looked like an embryo. I’ll try and post blurred photos.
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It looks like an embryo that was fertilized but quit developing quite early. I would assume it would then act as a bit of a hindrance inside the egg, not allowing the other twin the space to develop.
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I wondered about that. That’s absolutely what happened with the twin baby in Rubik & Victory’s clutch. The second snakeling was recognizable in that case. I still need to crop and post pics from that.
It seems seriously weird to this mammal that one embryo’s cessation of development didn’t doom the other sibling sharing the egg. I’m glad it didn’t, of course. But it’s weird. Did the surviving baby’s gas exchange membrane supply enough oxygen to prevent decay?
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My guess is the surviving twin’s membrane has some sort of biological function that walls it off the other embryo to allow it to not be harmed, in this case. It’s also possible that the membrane of the deceased twin acted as an enclosure in itself, along with the gas exchange from the porous, uncalcified shell, it semi-hardened instead of rotting.
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Nature does some really strange things at times!
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What a tiny baby! That one will probably need a pinkie head or section of mouse tail for at least a few feeds, I’m sure!
I think twin embryo that ceased development early on is probably likely. But have you ever seen a chicken egg that had another tiny chicken egg inside it? I wonder if that can happen with snake eggs.
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When I had Victory and her twin, I believe they were under 4 g. I don’t think they were quite as small as this one, though. They initially got the smallest pinky heads I could find. Between this baby and Victory’s baby I suppose I’ll need to order more extra smalls.
They both seem perfectly fine. This one was super calm, too, which is a bonus. Victory’s baby tried to escape. That was nerve-wracking, trying to hold such a small creature securely without hurting it.
I have heard of the chicken egg-within-an-egg. We’ve had a lot of chickens but I didn’t get to see that. It stands to reason it could happen with a reptile egg, too. And now you’ve got me wondering!
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